Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales 
	(1)  how many invoices her Department received in respect of goods or services supplied by tier 1 suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011; and how many of those invoices were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance;
	(2)  what mechanism her Department has established to ensure its payments are passed through the supply chain to each tier in accordance with the last date for payment defined in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

David Jones: Being a small department, the Wales Office does not procure contractors directly and therefore received no invoices between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011. The Wales Office uses contracts granted by the Ministry of Justice and larger Government Departments.

Departmental Ministerial Policy Advisers

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much her Department spent on special advisers' travel by (a) Government car, (b) private hire car, (c) train, (d) bus, (e) commercial aircraft and (f) private aircraft since May 2010.

David Jones: In line with the Secretary of State's decision in May 2010 all Wales Office Ministers, Officials and Special Advisers travel standard class rather than first class by rail.
	The Wales Office has spent £3,284.70 on train travel for our special adviser since May 2010, which is a significant saving on the previous year when the Department had two special advisers.
	We have made no expenditure on Government Car, private hire car, bus or any air travel for the special adviser.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many invoices his Department received in respect of goods or services supplied by tier 1 suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011; and how many of those invoices were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

Chris Grayling: The following information details the volumes of payments to suppliers made to the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011 by the Department:
	To note, DWP payment terms are calculated from the receipt of a valid invoice rather than the date of invoice.
	Total number of invoices received was 772,209. Of which 13,964 payments were made outside the 30 day payment target; 17,906 were made outside the 10 day payment target; and 104,572 were made outside the five day payment target. The Government's Fair Payment guidance relates to the construction sector. The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) estate is managed under contract by Telereal Trillium so the Department has no direct construction requirements.
	The “Prompt Payment Code”, published-by Institute of Credit Management (ICM) on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) gives a code of practice for prompt payment. DWP has been a signatory of the code since June 2009 and adheres to this through the Prompt Payment Targets.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what mechanism his Department has established to ensure its payments are passed through the supply chain to each Tier in accordance with the last date for payment defined in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

Chris Grayling: The Government's Fair Payment guidance relates to the Construction sector. The Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) estate is managed under contract by Telereal Trillium so the Department has no direct construction requirements.
	Where DWP suppliers use sub-contractors to deliver a contract, our terms and conditions insist that a provision is included in the sub-contract requiring payment to be made of all sums due by the contractor to the sub-contractor within a specified period not exceeding 30 days from receipt of a valid invoice.
	The DWP website confirms that where suppliers use sub-contractors, invoices should be paid within 30 days and sub-contractors are able to report non compliance and a suitable e-mail contact address is provided to enable them to do so.
	The “Prompt Payment Code”, published by Institute of Credit Management (ICM) on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) gives a code of practice for prompt payment. DWP has been a signatory of the code since June 2009 and adheres to this through the Prompt Payment Targets.

Departmental Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department paid in (a) damages, (b) claimant costs and (c) defendant costs in respect of all civil claims brought against his Department in which the claimant was successful or the Department settled in each of the last three years.

Chris Grayling: The amount of damages paid by the Department for Work and Pensions is not held centrally and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The Department uses both its own litigation department and external suppliers of legal services in the conduct of its litigation and the costs of these services in relation to civil claims in which the claimant was successful or the Department settled are also not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. The amount of claimant costs paid in respect of each of the last three years is as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Claimant costs (£) 
			 2010-11 1,038,396.87 
			 2009-10 818,704.46 
			 2008-09 629,665.31 
		
	
	These figures include some costs that -were payable on behalf of the child maintenance and Enforcement Commission which is a Non-Departmental Public Body for which the Department provides some litigation services.
	These figures do not include some costs in relation to motor accident claims in 2008-09 which were handled under outsourced arrangements.
	In answering this question, the Department has assumed that the term “civil claims” refers to claims issued in England and Wales, in the courts of civil jurisdiction. The figures provided do not therefore include employment-related claims pursued through the Employment Tribunals.
	The increase in spend in 2010-11 can be attributed to the final resolution of costs payable in a case that had been heard in the Court of Appeal in 2008.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the name is of each contractor or supplier of (a) mobile telephone and (b) mobile data services to his Department.

Chris Grayling: The department sources its mobile telephone and mobile data services through a contract with BT Plc. BT in turn subcontract these services to Vodafone Plc.

Employment Schemes: Barking and Dagenham

Margaret Hodge: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many voluntary organisations will be involved in the delivery of the Work programme in Barking and Dagenham; and what proportion of the supply chain this figure represents.

Chris Grayling: Nationally there are over 300 first tier Third sector organisations. In addition, there are a significant number of organisations providing ad-hoc support as customer requirements dictate.
	The competition is still underway at the moment, when contracts have been signed, further details of the contracts will appear on Government websites (Contract Finder) as part of the ongoing commitment to the Transparency agenda.

Antisocial Behaviour: Fixed Penalties

Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many fixed penalty notices for disorder were issued for (a) shop theft and (b) criminal damage in each police force area in each year since their introduction; and how many such notices remain unpaid.

Crispin Blunt: The number of penalty notices for disorder issued and the payment rate for the offences of retail theft and criminal damage by police force area, in England and Wales, from 2004 to 2009 can be viewed in tables 1 and 2.
	It is not possible to make an accurate assessment of how many penalty notices remain unpaid as, once fines are issued in default of payment, they are indistinguishable from other fines. The overall payment rate for all fines in the financial year to March 2011 was 93%.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of penalty notices for disorder issued, paid and percentage paid for persons aged 16 and over, for criminal damage by police force area, England and Wales 2005-09  (1) 
			  2004 2005 2006 
			 Police force area PNDs issued Paid Percentage PNDs issued Paid Percentage PNDs issued Paid Percentage 
			 Avon and Somerset 25 16 64 404 287 71 478 309 65 
			 Bedfordshire 11 6 55 143 88 62 214 129 60 
			 British Transport police 0 0 0 0 0 0 108 70 65 
			 Cambridgeshire 9 7 78 107 72 67 171 108 63 
			 Cheshire 37 13 35 317 175 55 300 161 54 
			 Cleveland 13 9 69 280 141 50 461 192 42 
			 Cumbria 14 11 79 66 47 71 226 152 67 
			 Derbyshire 21 17 81 283 195 69 512 339 66 
			 Devon and Cornwall 74 47 64 659 440 67 932 612 66 
			 Dorset 19 16 84 217 151 70 244 162 66 
			 Durham 1 0 0 32 22 69 111 53 48 
			 Essex 43 26 60 405 265 65 358 223 62 
			 Gloucestershire 2 2 100 205 114 56 476 276 58 
			 Greater Manchester 70 39 56 482 255 53 982 520 53 
			 Hampshire 36 23 64 211 138 65 354 238 67 
			 Hertfordshire 12 9 75 148 104 70 751 427 57 
			 Humberside 16 9 56 182 102 56 719 338 47 
			 Kent 35 22 63 782 471 60 1,196 650 54 
			 Lancashire 91 44 48 822 394 48 1,394 648 46 
			 Leicestershire 19 14 74 180 112 62 240 133 55 
			 Lincolnshire 36 24 67 250 159 64 236 147 62 
			 London, City of 0 0 0 2 2 100 6 5 83 
			 Merseyside 52 23 44 961 416 43 1,187 516 43 
			 Metropolitan 154 82 53 932 465 50 1,217 572 47 
			 Norfolk 0 0 0 0 0 0 93 60 65 
			 North Yorkshire 0 0 0 11 9 82 306 198 65 
			 Northamptonshire 23 0 0 84 44 52 313 159 51 
			 Northumbria 1 13 57 132 86 65 467 318 68 
			 Nottinghamshire 28 21 75 121 80 66 139 81 58 
		
	
	
		
			 South Yorkshire 0 0 0 6 2 33 344 156 45 
			 Staffordshire 11 9 82 193 120 62 326 182 56 
			 Suffolk 14 10 71 91 64 70 140 88 63 
			 Surrey 0 0 0 11 8 73 284 190 67 
			 Sussex 0 0 0 289 176 61 521 308 59 
			 Thames Valley 36 22 61 310 203 65 458 276 60 
			 Warwickshire 19 16 84 158 102 65 172 119 69 
			 West Mercia 12 9 75 236 150 64 509 311 61 
			 West Midlands 32 15 47 541 271 50 620 282 45 
			 West Yorkshire 146 62 42 1,138 598 53 1,169 622 53 
			 Wiltshire 15 8 53 41 33 80 35 15 43 
			           
			 England 1,127 644 57 11,432 6,561 57 18,769 10,345 55 
			           
			 Dyfed Powys 25 12 48 147 97 66 229 155 68 
			 Gwent 14 8 57 153 89 58 303 155 51 
			 North Wales 21 15 71 320 183 57 560 289 52 
			 South Wales 3 2 67 116 66 57 759 407 54 
			           
			 Wales 63 37 59 736 435 59 1,851 1,006 54 
			           
			 England and Wales 1,190 681 57 12,168 6,996 57 20,620 11,351 55 
		
	
	
		
			  2007 2008 2009 
			 Police force area PNDs issued Paid Percentage PNDs issued Paid Percentage PNDs issued Paid Percentage 
			 Avon and Somerset 346 232 67 312 207 66 245 166 68 
			 Bedfordshire 142 83 58 84 40 48 53 32 60 
			 British Transport police 152 105 69 124 76 61 105 70 67 
			 Cambridgeshire 277 170 61 195 126 65 111 72 65 
			 Cheshire 171 102 60 132 75 57 115 66 57 
			 Cleveland 374 168 45 231 101 44 183 79 43 
			 Cumbria 189 123 65 63 44 70 52 31 60 
			 Derbyshire 417 245 59 262 158 60 102 57 56 
			 Devon and Cornwall 621 422 68 262 199 76 208 153 74 
			 Dorset 147 100 68 97 68 70 75 56 75 
			 Durham 137 69 50 108 57 53 285 139 49 
			 Essex 323 199 62 205 129 63 103 56 54 
			 Gloucestershire 261 141 54 102 70 69 53 37 70 
			 Greater Manchester 1,116 650 58 913 528 58 675 384 57 
			 Hampshire 528 328 62 289 188 65 317 215 68 
			 Hertfordshire 560 319 57 325 221 68 319 209 66 
			 Humberside 982 422 43 500 235 47 351 173 49 
			 Kent 1,230 675 55 1,069 567 53 861 476 55 
			 Lancashire 1,340 546 41 978 441 45 762 364 48 
			 Leicestershire 257 148 58 165 93 56 68 37 54 
			 Lincolnshire 157 98 62 94 69 73 61 48 79 
			 London, City of 15 13 87 2 2 100 2 1 50 
			 Merseyside 616 254 41 402 182 45 304 138 45 
			 Metropolitan 1,293 631 49 996 501 50 728 385 53 
			 Norfolk 127 79 62 171 114 67 94 60 64 
			 North Yorkshire 457 306 67 254 172 68 109 79 72 
			 Northamptonshire 307 158 51 188 95 51 126 76 60 
			 Northumbria 543 372 69 525 337 64 431 245 57 
			 Nottinghamshire 195 124 64 141 92 65 123 84 68 
			 South Yorkshire 736 345 47 611 277 45 419 224 53 
			 Staffordshire 286 160 56 184 105 57 124 74 60 
			 Suffolk 175 117 67 169 110 65 99 71 72 
		
	
	
		
			 Surrey 341 251 74 139 97 70 118 77 65 
			 Sussex 524 331 63 271 169 62 184 125 68 
			 Thames Valley 645 385 60 488 314 64 346 228 66 
			 Warwickshire 128 83 65 96 65 68 101 65 64 
			 West Mercia 371 245 66 244 139 57 154 94 61 
			 West Midlands 582 315 54 320 168 53 237 120 51 
			 West Yorkshire 862 492 57 389 228 59 299 178 60 
			 Wiltshire 43 23 53 113 66 58 75 45 60 
			           
			 England 17,973 10,029 56 12,213 6,925 57 9,177 5,289 58 
			           
			 Dyfed Powys 187 134 72 150 111 74 148 106 72 
			 Gwent 258 123 48 332 155 47 233 119 51 
			 North Wales 733 405 55 448 251 56 332 199 60 
			 South Wales 795 381 48 284 182 64 255 153 60 
			           
			 Wales 1,973 1,043 53 1,214 699 58 968 577 60 
			           
			 England and Wales 19,946 11,072 56 13,427 7,624 57 10,145 5,866 58 
			 (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: Number of penalty notices for disorder issued, paid and percentage paid for persons aged 16 and over, for retail theft by police force area, England and Wales 2005-09  (1) 
			  2004 2005 2006 
			 Police force area PNDs   i  ssued Paid Percentage PNDs   i  ssued Paid Percentage PNDs   i  ssued Paid Percentage 
			 Avon and Somerset 43 14 33 836 342 41 1,335 617 46 
			 Bedfordshire 2 1 50 247 90 36 449 159 35 
			 British Transport police 0 0 0 0 0 0 221 66 30 
			 Cambridgeshire 6 5 83 148 85 57 411 205 50 
			 Cheshire 58 22 38 523 158 30 532 209 39 
			 Cleveland 24 6 25 479 178 37 689 201 29 
			 Cumbria 29 18 62 123 72 59 244 127 52 
			 Derbyshire 17 9 53 175 98 56 545 274 50 
			 Devon and Cornwall 137 57 42 1,361 591 43 1,768 744 42 
			 Dorset 18 11 61 238 157 66 448 240 54 
			 Durham 1 1 100 33 17 52 67 29 43 
			 Essex 106 62 58 700 375 54 896 461 51 
			 Gloucestershire 0 0 0 255 79 31 770 285 37 
			 Greater Manchester 72 43 60 811 445 55 1,785 935 52 
			 Hampshire 58 29 50 429 225 52 656 300 46 
			 Hertfordshire 14 12 86 357 221 62 1,491 696 47 
			 Humberside 14 6 43 329 120 36 1,221 360 29 
			 Kent 46 22 48 1,630 681 42 2,520 993 39 
			 Lancashire 188 42 22 1,546 487 32 2,259 667 30 
			 Leicestershire 37 23 62 357 177 50 491 201 41 
			 Lincolnshire 44 17 39 310 136 44 283 124 44 
			 London, City of 0 0 0 6 2 33 21 9 43 
			 Merseyside 163 61 37 2,241 655 29 2,920 778 27 
			 Metropolitan 373 138 37 2,914 1,100 38 4,227 1,773 42 
			 Norfolk 0 0 0 0 0 0 286 139 49 
			 North Yorkshire 2 0 0 26 13 50 369 179 49 
			 Northamptonshire 35 2 100 101 32 32 705 283 40 
			 Northumbria 0 15 43 155 93 60 518 330 64 
			 Nottinghamshire 41 19 46 170 94 55 189 102 54 
			 South Yorkshire 2 2 100 0 0 0 553 295 53 
			 Staffordshire 14 11 79 165 74 45 371 169 46 
		
	
	
		
			 Suffolk 11 5 45 87 46 53 232 139 60 
			 Surrey 0 0 0 19 9 47 472 251 53 
			 Sussex 4 2 50 566 267 47 1,057 524 50 
			 Thames Valley 34 19 56 342 173 51 913 482 53 
			 Warwickshire 33 15 45 151 64 42 223 126 57 
			 West Mercia 25 17 68 413 243 59 950 512 54 
			 West Midlands 66 25 38 1,082 417 39 1,281 511 40 
			 West Yorkshire 200 78 39 963 445 46 884 459 52 
			 Wiltshire 12 6 50 25 14 56 21 9 43 
			           
			 England 1,929 815 42 20,313 8,475 42 35,273 14,963 42 
			           
			 Dyfed Powys 30 10 33 132 43 33 129 70 54 
			 Gwent 48 16 33 631 181 29 639 199 31 
			 North Wales 62 27 44 659 246 37 1,130 386 34 
			 South Wales 3 2 67 262 112 43 1,601 551 34 
			           
			 Wales 143 55 38 1,684 582 35 3,499 1,206 34 
			           
			 England and Wales 2,072 870 42 21,997 9,057 41 38,772 16,169 42 
		
	
	
		
			  2007 2008 2009 
			 Police force area PNDs   i  ssued Paid Percentage PNDs   i  ssued Paid Percentage PNDs   i  ssued Paid Percentage 
			 Avon and Somerset 1,089 532 49 1,315 652 50 1,260 689 55 
			 Bedfordshire 389 135 35 505 178 35 624 254 41 
			 British Transport police 227 87 38 225 83 37 187 68 36 
			 Cambridgeshire 813 311 38 759 368 48 855 431 50 
			 Cheshire 598 291 49 620 331 53 732 391 53 
			 Cleveland 767 195 25 675 188 28 724 251 35 
			 Cumbria 308 130 42 227 140 62 271 177 65 
			 Derbyshire 632 291 46 672 311 46 684 346 51 
			 Devon and Cornwall 1,402 634 45 939 553 59 860 533 62 
			 Dorset 503 262 52 434 204 47 472 235 50 
			 Durham 149 65 44 224 81 36 621 217 35 
			 Essex 1,040 517 50 1,453 758 52 1,285 718 56 
			 Gloucestershire 576 183 32 256 110 43 241 123 51 
			 Greater Manchester 2,759 1,515 55 2,961 1,681 57 3,308 1,970 60 
			 Hampshire 1,447 729 50 1,331 735 55 1,621 962 59 
			 Hertfordshire 1,464 730 50 1,423 919 65 1,974 1,176 60 
			 Humberside 1,827 457 25 1,608 431 27 1,333 461 35 
			 Kent 2,857 1,027 36 3,129 1,047 33 2,934 1,207 41 
			 Lancashire 2,642 882 33 2,325 809 35 2,078 928 45 
			 Leicestershire 587 238 41 564 272 48 519 263 51 
			 Lincolnshire 217 104 48 169 83 49 280 166 59 
			 London, City of 18 7 39 14 5 36 11 5 45 
			 Merseyside 2,422 773 32 2,457 852 35 2,371 927 39 
			 Metropolitan 5,040 1,870 37 6,260 2,669 43 6,903 3,398 49 
			 Norfolk 495 258 52 724 367 51 727 433 60 
			 North Yorkshire 589 274 47 461 226 49 376 230 61 
			 Northamptonshire 749 290 39 667 261 39 630 312 50 
			 Northumbria 812 497 61 959 504 53 1,074 475 44 
			 Nottinghamshire 400 211 53 498 265 53 514 318 62 
			 South Yorkshire 1,318 650 49 1,449 715 49 1,924 1,029 53 
			 Staffordshire 446 198 44 455 206 45 618 339 55 
			 Suffolk 402 233 58 470 265 56 565 320 57 
			 Surrey 669 352 53 599 327 55 629 372 59 
			 Sussex 1,000 500 50 915 489 53 1,071 650 61 
		
	
	
		
			 Thames Valley 1,459 779 53 1,861 1,027 55 1,951 1,176 60 
			 Warwickshire 221 133 60 280 151 54 277 155 56 
			 West Mercia 855 486 57 919 502 55 886 479 54 
			 West Midlands 1,150 484 42 918 417 45 564 269 48 
			 West Yorkshire 611 320 52 431 240 56 542 332 61 
			 Wiltshire 71 36 51 600 272 45 504 266 53 
			           
			 England 41,020 17,666 43 42,751 19,694 46 45,000 23,051 51 
			           
			 Dyfed Powys 124 60 48 143 68 48 169 110 65 
			 Gwent 717 269 38 737 278 38 783 287 37 
			 North Wales 1,193 420 35 899 343 38 901 384 43 
			 South Wales 2,092 696 33 1,086 520 48 1,308 697 53 
			           
			 Wales 4,126 1,445 35 2,865 1,209 42 3,161 1,478 47 
			           
			 England and Wales 45,146 19,111 42 45,616 20,903 46 48,161 24,529 51 
			 (1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Departmental Data Protection

Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many contracts his Department holds which allow contractors to store personal data of UK citizens overseas; to which contracts this applies; in which countries the data for each such contract is held; and how many people have their data stored overseas under each such contract.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice does not have any contracts where personal data of UK citizens is stored overseas.

Young Offenders: Children in Care

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what proportion of young people aged (a) 12 to 15 and (b) 16 and over in each local authority area are in custody; and what proportion of such children were formerly looked after children in care.

Crispin Blunt: The YJB does not hold data down to local authority level; however we do hold data down to Youth Offending Team level. The majority of Youth Offending Teams are coterminous with local authorities in England and Wales; however there are some exceptions where a single YOT covers two or more local authorities (see Annex A for a list of Youth Offending Teams which cover more than one local authority area). During 2009-10, there were 157 YOTs; 139 in England and 18 in Wales. The following table shows the average proportion per 1,000 young people aged (a) 12 to 15 and (b) 16 and 17 year olds in each youth offending team in England and Wales that were in custody (remanded and sentenced) for the period of 2009-10. The population data are from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and are based on mid-year estimate from 2008, which is the latest available population data with the age breakdown.
	Accurate data are not available on the number of looked after children.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing and may be subject to change over time.
	
		
			 Period 2009-  10 
			 YOT Age 12-15 per 1,000 population Age 16-17 per 1,000 population 
			 Barking and Dagenham 0.48 3.02 
			 Barnet 0.11 1.09 
			 Barnsley 0.02 1.01 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 0.26 1.17 
			 Bedfordshire 0.06 0.88 
			 Bexley 0.14 0.47 
			 Birmingham 0.44 2.61 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 0.16 2.28 
			 Blackpool 0.38 3.47 
			 Blaenau, Gwent and Caerphilly 0.19 0.65 
			 Bolton 0.16 1.42 
			 Bournemouth and Poole 0.10 0.70 
			 Bracknell Forest 0.18 0.69 
			 Bradford 0.26 1.94 
			 Brent 0.40 2.50 
			 Bridgend 0.31 1.90 
			 Brighton and Hove 0.11 1.81 
			 Bristol 0.46 2.82 
			 Bromley 0.20 0.77 
			 Buckinghamshire 0.03 0.51 
			 Bury 0.22 1.68 
			 Calderdale 0.34 1.95 
			 Cambridgeshire 0.06 0.75 
			 Camden 0.08 1.99 
			 Cardiff 0.28 3.15 
			 Carmarthenshire 0.06 1.47 
			 Ceredigion 0.00 0.27 
			 Cheshire 0.06 1.02 
			 Conwy and Denbighshire 0.13 0.93 
			 Cornwall 0.04 0.61 
		
	
	
		
			 Coventry 0.23 2.13 
			 Croydon 0.47 2.73 
			 Cumbria 0.08 1.11 
			 Darlington 0.17 1.25 
			 Derby 0.73 3.75 
			 Derbyshire 0.07 0.67 
			 Devon 0.07 0.40 
			 Doncaster 0.24 1.37 
			 Dorset 0.02 0.20 
			 Dudley 0.02 0.87 
			 Durham 0.04 0.93 
			 Ealing 0.26 2.41 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 0.03 0.55 
			 East Sussex 0.03 0.92 
			 Enfield 0.15 1.67 
			 Essex 0.05 0.66 
			 Flintshire 0.19 1.07 
			 Gateshead 0.24 1.41 
			 Gloucestershire 0.05 0.53 
			 Greenwich 0.14 2.49 
			 Gwynedd Mon 0.14 0.62 
			 Hackney 0.89 5.80 
			 Halton and Warrington 0.20 1.31 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 0.72 3.76 
			 Haringey 0.32 3.47 
			 Harrow 0.22 0.63 
			 Hartlepool 0.07 1.69 
			 Havering 0.10 0.75 
			 Hertfordshire 0.05 0.54 
			 Hillingdon 0.13 1.73 
			 Hounslow 0.09 0.96 
			 Islington 0.31 5.32 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 0.24 3.94 
			 Kent 0.11 0.88 
			 Kingston-upon-Hull 0.53 2.39 
			 Kingston-upon-Thames 0.26 0.77 
			 Kirklees 0.31 1.79 
			 Knowsley 0.47 1.92 
			 Lambeth 0.70 7.53 
			 Lancashire 0.22 1.26 
			 Leeds 0.48 2.26 
			 Leicester City 0.31 2.80 
			 Leicestershire 0.04 0.37 
			 Lewisham 0.50 3.72 
			 Lincolnshire 0.06 0.83 
			 Liverpool 0.42 3.45 
			 Luton 0.03 1.01 
			 Manchester 0.53 5.86 
			 Medway 0.18 0.85 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 0.65 7.71 
			 Merton 0.25 1.26 
			 Milton Keynes 0.12 0.90 
			 Monmouthshire and Torfaen 0.04 0.65 
			 Neath Port Talbot 0.02 1.08 
			 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 0.18 1.78 
		
	
	
		
			 Newham 0.43 4.77 
			 Newport 0.23 1.44 
			 Norfolk 0.13 0.66 
			 North East Lincolnshire 0.33 1.33 
			 North Lincolnshire 0.39 2.75 
			 North Somerset 0.08 1.06 
			 North Tyneside 0.22 1.21 
			 North Yorkshire 0.14 0.71 
			 Northamptonshire 0.08 1.31 
			 Northumberland 0.04 0.52 
			 Nottingham 0.60 5.60 
			 Nottinghamshire 0.13 0.83 
			 Oldham 0.48 1.03 
			 Oxfordshire 0.06 0.72 
			 Pembrokeshire 0.00 0.17 
			 Peterborough 0.62 3.14 
			 Plymouth 0.02 1.23 
			 Powys 0.02 0.73 
			 Reading 0.14 0.66 
			 Redbridge 0.17 2.18 
			 Rhondda Cynon Taff 0.11 1.30 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames 0.12 0.79 
			 Rochdale 0.42 1.59 
			 Rotherham 0.20 1.57 
			 Salford 0.37 2.49 
			 Sandwell 0.28 1.88 
			 Sefton 0.06 0.72 
			 Sheffield 0.28 2.84 
			 Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin 0.05 0.73 
			 Slough 0.17 1.50 
			 Solihull 0.07 0.89 
			 Somerset 0.07 0.31 
			 South Gloucestershire 0.00 0.24 
			 South Tees 0.29 1.55 
			 South Tyneside 0.10 0.77 
			 Southend-on-Sea 0.33 2.12 
			 Southwark 0.70 6.54 
			 St. Helens 0.04 2.16 
			 Staffordshire 0.05 0.80 
			 Stockport 0.11 0.77 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 0.16 1.43 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 0.43 2.63 
			 Suffolk 0.11 0.67 
			 Sunderland 0.08 0.96 
			 Surrey 0.04 0.31 
			 Sutton 0.00 0.61 
			 Swansea 0.16 0.91 
			 Swindon 0.11 1.19 
			 Tameside 0.10 1.22 
			 Thurrock 0.23 0.72 
			 Torbay 0.00 0.98 
			 Tower Hamlets and City of London 0.16 3.83 
			 Trafford 0.16 2.22 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 0.39 0.88 
			 Wakefield 0.13 0.84 
			 Walsall 0.15 1.31 
		
	
	
		
			 Waltham Forest 0.46 2.42 
			 Wandsworth 0.78 5.30 
			 Warwickshire 0.12 0.43 
			 Wessex 0.13 1.22 
			 West Berkshire 0.12 0.57 
			 West Sussex 0.09 0.60 
			 Westminster 0.46 1.72 
			 Wigan 0.14 0.92 
			 Wiltshire 0.03 0.32 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 0.15 0.49 
			 Wirral 0.14 1.25 
			 Wokingham 0.00 0.14 
			 Wolverhampton 0.26 2.21 
			 Worcestershire and Herefordshire 0.08 0.75 
			 Wrexham 0.28 2.31 
			 York 0.02 2.15 
		
	
	Annex A—Note on YOTs
	Bournemouth and Poole (made up of Bournemouth LA and Poole LA)
	Cornwall (made up of Cornwall LA and Isles of Scilly LA)
	Halton and Warrington (made up of Halton LA and Warrington LA)
	Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (made up of Shropshire LA and Telford and Wrekin LA)
	South Tees (made up of Redcar LA, Cleveland LA, and Middlesbrough LA)
	Tower Hamlets and City of London (made up of Tower Hamlets LA and City of London LA)
	Wessex (made up of Isle of Wight LA, Hampshire LA, Southampton LA and Portsmouth LA)
	Worcestershire and Herefordshire (made up of Worcestershire LA and Herefordshire LA)

Biodiversity

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the European Commission's proposed 2010 Biodiversity Strategy.

Richard Benyon: The UK welcomes the recent publication of the Commission's EU Biodiversity Strategy as an important contribution towards implementing the international commitments on biodiversity agreed in Nagoya last October. The Strategy, which includes six targets and 20 related actions, is also intended to help the EU and its member states meet the EU's 2020 biodiversity target agreed in March 2010.
	The Hungarian presidency of the EU is aiming to adopt Council conclusions on the Strategy at the June Environment Council.
	We will shortly publish a new England Biodiversity Strategy, following the publication of the Natural Environment White Paper, which will set out how our international commitments will be met in England.

Coastal Areas: Access

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what recent progress has been made on the implementation of the coastal access provisions of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009;
	(2)  what plans she has to implement the coastal access provisions of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 following the completion of implementation of the planned sections in Dorset, Norfolk, Kent, Somerset, Durham and Cumbria;
	(3)  what her policy is on the maintenance of coastal paths.

Richard Benyon: holding answers 16 and 17 May 2011
	The Government plan to introduce the new right of coastal access under part 9 of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 on a 30 km stretch of the English coast between Portland and Lulworth Cove in Dorset in time for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events in July 2012.
	Natural England submitted its Weymouth Bay coastal access report to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), on 22 March 2011. There is now a period until 17 May 2011 for any objections to the proposals in the report and representations to be made.
	In due course we will be discussing with Natural England its priorities and timetable for implementation of the coastal access provisions beyond the initial coastal stretches at Weymouth and in Cumbria, Durham, Kent, Norfolk and Somerset.
	Local highway authorities are responsible for the maintenance of all rights of way in conjunction with landowners.

Floods: Insurance

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent assessment she has made of her Department's compliance with the Statement of Principles on the provision of flood insurance of July 2008.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 17 May 2011
	In July 2008 the Statement of Principles required the Government to continue to make progress on a range of flood and coastal erosion issues. In relation to the specific issues identified:
	We have incorporated the EU Floods Directive into law;
	The Environment Agency have streamlined arrangements for providing flood risk data to insurers;
	The Environment Agency published a long-term investment strategy for flood and coastal erosion risk management;
	Through the Flood and Water Management Act we have established how flooding from surface water will be better managed in the future;
	We have completed a review of outcome measures and have consulted on reforms to the way capital budgets are allocated;
	We are committed to preventing unnecessary building in areas of high flood risk and to giving a greater say to local communities through a faster and more democratically accountable planning system within a framework of clear national priorities; and
	We continue to explore the role that non-regulatory approaches such as resilience grants, funding mechanisms and information can have in encouraging flood resilience and better building design.

Rivers

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much her Department spent on cleaning rivers in the last five years.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency undertakes pollution prevention activities and has a role to investigate and remediate pollution incidents. It also has powers to prevent or stop pollution and operates under the 'polluter pays' principle recovering its costs where possible.
	The Environment Agency has a specific duty to protect and enhance water quality in rivers and other water bodies in England and Wales. It is funded to undertake its duties partly by government grant in aid (GIA) and partly through charges for Environmental permits for water discharge activity (EPR charges).
	The following table outlines all expenditure associated with activities aiming to ensure the cleanliness and quality of rivers and other water bodies continues to be protected and maintained.
	
		
			 £000 
			   Sources of funding 
			  Total water quality spending EPR charges Pollution incidents cost recovery  (1) GIA/other 
			 2010-11(2) 132,272 62,749 1,473 68,050 
			 2009-10 130,768 64,424 1,345 64,999 
			 2008-09 141,550 64,761 1,059 75,730 
			 2007-08 141,053 65,671 689 74,693 
			 2006-07 148,442 65,073 957 82,412 
			 Five year total 694,085 322,678 5,523 365,884 
			 (1 )In addition to pollution incident costs recovery, a significant proportion of such incidents are funded from GIA. (2) As yet unaudited. 
		
	
	In addition to the grant in aid that will be provided to the Environment Agency this year, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the right hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs Spelman), announced on 13 April 2011 that an additional £92 million would be spent over the course of the spending review period (2011-15) by a range of organisations, to help deliver additional improvements to our rivers, lakes and estuaries.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the name is of each contractor or supplier of (a) mobile telephone and (b) mobile data services to her Department.

Damian Green: The suppliers to the Home Department for the provision of (a) mobile telephones are Vodafone, Orange and o2, and for (b) mobile data services, Vodafone.

Entry Clearances: Married People

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for spouse and partner visas have been denied on the basis that they have not met the English language requirements since 29 November 2010; and what proportion of the total refusals for spouse and partner visas since that date this group represents.

Damian Green: This data is based on management information. It is provisional and subject to change.
	Period: f rom 29 November 2010 onwards
	Refusals (Not met English language requirements ) for spouse and partners—71
	Total refusals—for spouse and partners—6,126

Immigrants

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to address gaps in local data on migrant populations.

Nick Hurd: I have been asked to reply.
	The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated May 2011
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what plans the Secretary of State for the Home Office has to address gaps in local data on migrant populations.
	ONS produces estimates of long-term international migrant flows for each local authority. Over the last decade these have attracted extensive interest. The Migration Statistics Improvement Programme (MSIP) work programme was initiated in April 2008, with the purpose of improving population and migration statistics in line with recommendations made in the 2006 Interdepartmental Task Force on Migration Statistics and subsequent Parliamentary reviews. The programme is led by the National Statistician and the Office for National Statistics, working in partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Department of Health, Department for Children Schools and Families, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Her Majesty's Treasury, devolved administrations and the Bank of England.
	Phase 1 of the MSIP ended in May 2010 and resulted in significant improvements to migration and population statistics at a Local Authority (LA) level. This work included:
	the development of an immigration model that uses a range of more timely administrative data and other sources to allocate immigration data to local authorities. This replaced the direct use of Census data for this purpose. This was a significant improvement as it meant that changes in distribution since the 2001 Census were taken into account
	the use of data from the Higher Education Statistics Authority, which for the first time includes student term time address, and been used to produce better estimates of student migration
	a methodology has been introduced to produce an initial set of short-term migration estimates at LA level; These were published in a research report followed by a period of extensive user consultation which has fed into the further development of these estimates
	Phase 2 of the MSIP is now underway and will run until March 2012. Phase 2 is concentrating on making greater and better use of administrative data to produce further improvements to migration and population estimates at LA level. This includes:
	undertaking reconciliation work to understand the gaps between administrative sources and population estimates
	distributing long-term migrants to LA level using proportions from administrative sources instead of the current modelling approach
	developing estimates of short-term migration for local authorities which will help to explain some of the gaps between the current population estimates and information contained in a range of administrative sources which include short-term migrants (particularly workers and students)
	All publications from the Migration Statistics Improvement Programme can be found at the following link:
	http://www.ons.gov.uk/about-statistics/methodology-and-quality/imps/index.html

Immigrants: Detainees

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people who were detained for immigration purposes and then (a) deported and (b) released in the last six months of 2010 had been detained for more than (i) three months, (ii) six months, (iii) one year and (iv) two years.

Damian Green: holding answer 3 May 2011
	For the purposes of this response, we have assumed “deported” to mean deported or removed. The following table show details of those leaving detention under immigration powers in Immigration Removal Centres between 1 July and 31 December 2010, broken down by length of detention. Data showing those leaving detention under immigration powers in Her Majesty's Prisons is not available.
	
		
			 All Removed/Deported Released 
			 Total 8,410 4,660 
			    
			 Detention length:   
			 Three months to less than six months 515 305 
			 Six months to less than 12 months 225 135 
			 12 months to less than 24 months 55 65 
			 24 months or more 10 20 
			 Notes: 1. Figures rounded to the nearest 5. 2. Release and Removal totals are given 'per event' not 'per individual'. This means that individuals could be counted more than once. 3. The time period refers to the continuous period of detention immediately prior to release or removal. 
		
	
	Please note these figures are based on internal management information and should be treated as provisional and subject to change. They have not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols and may not agree with published figures.
	The majority of those detained under immigration powers for periods beyond 12 months are likely to have been former foreign national prisoners (FNPs). Despite the best efforts of the UK Border Agency, deportation of FNPs can be delayed by the use of judicial challenges and their failure to comply with the documentation process, which can lengthen the period of time spent in immigration detention.
	We are working with international partners to return people to their home country at the earliest opportunity and will continue to tackle the delaying tactics used by those who attempt to frustrate their removal.
	Every effort is made to ensure that a foreign prisoner's deportation coincides, as far as possible, with his or her release from prison. Where sentence length allows, deportation will be considered up to 18 months prior to the earliest point of removal.

Driving Offences: Fines

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many people normally resident in EU countries other than the UK were liable to pay a speeding fine in England in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: In 2006, we estimated that around 3% to 4% of all speeding offences detected on camera were by foreign-registered vehicles. However, we do not have data on the nationality of drivers of vehicles and we have no practical mechanism to count those foreign licence drivers who are committing offences undetected or GB licence holders driving foreign registered vehicles.
	We are aware that the current systems mean that foreign drivers are less likely to face the consequences of dangerous road use. We are looking at ways of improving enforcement where we do not have details of the driver who committed the offence. We are also considering innovative approaches to fine collection by using third parties to improve enforcement.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) position and (b) payband is of each member of staff of (i) his Department and (ii) High Speed Two assigned to work on the High Speed Two mobile exhibitions and roadshows.

Philip Hammond: The Department for Transport has nine members of staff in the High Speed Rail policy team, who spend some of their time working on the exhibitions and roadshows. Of these, one is SCSPB2, two are SCSPB1, three are PB6, and three are PB4. When further resources have been necessary, support from other areas of the Department has been requested.
	45 HS2 Ltd employees attend roadshows as part of their duties. The positions are a mixture of administrative and specialist posts (i.e. engineer) and are formed of DfT secondees and directly employed HS2 Ltd staff. The make-up of these staff are identified in the following tables:
	
		
			 DFT secondees to HS2 
			 Band Number of employees 
			 SCSPB2 1 
			 SCSPB1 2 
			 PB7 1 
			 PB6 9 
			 PB5 1 
			 PB4 3 
			 PB3 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Directly employed HS2 staff 
			 Band Number of employees 
			 Senior Manager 2 
			 Manager 11 
			 Adviser A 4 
			 Adviser B 1 
			 Assistant A 1 
			 Assistant B 3 
			 Assistant C 4 
			 Executive member 1

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether anyone acting on behalf of his Department or of High Speed 2 Ltd approached any of the business leaders who wrote an open letter to the editor of the Financial Times in support of High Speed 2 to encourage them to do so.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 4 May 2011
	No permanent civil servants or employees of HS2 Ltd approached any of the individuals who signed the letter referred to.
	I and other Ministers in the Department regularly urge business and civic leaders who support high speed rail proposals to make their views known publicly, as those who oppose high speed rail have done.
	Special advisers in the Department will have had follow up contact with some of these supporters of high speed rail to make them aware of the opportunities to make that support known.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has any plans to revise the service assumptions for demand modelling in respect of the High Speed 2 proposals.

Philip Hammond: An indicative service specification has been produced by HS2 Ltd for the purposes of preparing an economic case for HS2. This is indicative only and should not be considered as binding on the eventual service pattern that operates on HS2. The service specification is likely to be further refined as the project progresses.

HM Coastguard

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what definition of national resilience his Department uses in relation to its proposals for the future operating model for HM Coastguard.

Michael Penning: In relation to the proposals for a future operating model for HM Coastguard, national resilience is the interoperability between all Coastguard Centres within a national network. This would enable HM Coastguard to maintain the provision of its mandated operational responsibilities during specific threat periods, intense loading or impairment to one or more centres as a result of staff shortages or infrastructure impairment.

Motor Vehicles: Registration

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many motor cars of each make registered on or prior to 1945 are recorded as still in existence by the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority database.

Michael Penning: The following table provides an estimate of the number of cars which were first registered (or are likely to have been first registered) before 1946 and were either licensed or had a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) applied on 31 December 2010.
	However, it is impossible to know exactly how many pre-1946 cars are still registered for two reasons:
	(1) An unknown number of pre-1946 cars that were neither licensed nor had a SORN on the 31 December may still be in existence. Nothing is known about these vehicles.
	(2) Before 1971 registration was carried out by local authorities. From 1971, registration was carried out centrally. Any vehicle that had been first registered before this date but was unlicensed at the point of the change will have received a new, post-1971, date of first registration if and when the vehicle was licensed again. The only way to identify these vehicles is through the date of manufacture; this information is not available for all vehicles, especially older ones.
	
		
			  First registered before 1946 First registered after 1971 but manufactured before 1946  
			 Make Licensed With a SORN Licensed With a SORN Total 
			 AC 13 3 4 — 20 
			 AC (Electric) 33 8 6 1 48 
			 AJS 13 — 3 — 16 
			 Albion 2 — 1 — 3 
			 Alfa Romeo 53 38 5 9 105 
			 Aston Martin 156 34 30 6 226 
			 Austin/Austin Henley/Austin Morris 6,547 1,383 1,172 243 9,345 
			 Bedford 9 4 — — 13 
			 Bentley 935 314 138 54 1,441 
			 BMW 11 17 1 6 35 
			 Bond 1 — — — 1 
			 Bristol (Blmc) 1 2 — — 3 
			 BSA 100 28 15 7 150 
			 Bugatti 7 52 4 25 88 
			 Buick 105 84 18 24 231 
			 Cadillac 14 47 4 18 83 
		
	
	
		
			 Carbodies 1 — — — 1 
			 Case — — — 1 1 
			 Chevrolet 14 89 6 25 134 
			 Chrysler 44 44 4 12 104 
			 Citroen 83 63 12 19 177 
			 Clark 1 — — — 1 
			 Commer 3 1 — — 4 
			 Daimler 264 59 43 16 382 
			 Datsun — 1 — — 1 
			 Dennis 5 — — — 5 
			 Dodge 4 38 — 10 52 
			 Douglas 1 1 — — 2 
			 Enfield 1 — — — 1 
			 Fiat 113 43 15 10 181 
			 Ford 911 965 141 257 2,274 
			 Fordson 2 1 1 — 4 
			 Hillman 300 77 45 6 428 
			 Humber 319 62 62 11 454 
			 Jaguar 82 44 9 8 143 
			 James 2 — — — 2 
			 Jensen 6 1 1 2 10 
			 Jordan — 1 — — 1 
			 Lancia 126 19 9 6 160 
			 Land Rover 1 — — — 1 
			 Leyland Cars 4 — — — 4 
			 Lincoln 8 7 — 2 17 
			 Marshall 1 — — — 1 
			 Maserati 1 3 — 1 5 
			 Matchless 1 — — — 1 
			 Mazda — 2 — — 2 
			 Mercedes 31 17 2 5 55 
			 Mercury — 2 — 1 3 
			 MG 1,349 307 191 46 1,893 
			 Morgan 239 104 41 16 400 
			 Morris 3,214 603 624 106 4,547 
			 Norton 1 — — — 1 
			 Oldsmobile 14 39 2 11 66 
			 Opel 14 3 2 2 21 
			 Other British 7,068 2,824 1,224 600 11,716 
			 Other Countries 249 33 49 7 338 
			 Other East European 1 1 1 — 3 
			 Other Electric — 1 3 — 4 
			 Other French 57 22 8 4 91 
			 Other German 10 1 1 — 12 
			 Other Italian 20 9 1 2 32 
			 Other Japanese/Asian — 2 — — 2 
			 Other Us/Aust/Can 24 99 4 35 162 
			 Other West European 5 1 1 — 7 
			 Other/Commercial/Thorneycroft 2 1 — — 3 
			 Peugeot 14 23 5 9 51 
			 Plymouth 1 15 — 3 19 
			 Pontiac 4 16 3 3 26 
		
	
	
		
			 Porsche — 1 — — 1 
			 Raleigh 5 2 — 1 8 
			 Renault 71 39 12 12 134 
			 Riley 1,490 200 167 17 1,874 
			 Rolls Royce 1,374 600 184 95 2,253 
			 Rover 565 114 82 17 778 
			 Saab — 1 — — 1 
			 Saxon 1 — — — 1 
			 Singer 432 95 68 16 611 
			 Steyr 1 — — — 1 
			 Sunbeam 295 53 41 1 390 
			 Talbot 164 60 25 7 256 
			 Toyota 1 2 — — 3 
			 Triumph 229 39 28 4 300 
			 Vauxhall 414 111 64 21 610 
			 Volkswagen 2 22 — 6 30 
			 Volvo — 3 — — 3 
			 Westfield — 1 — — 1 
			 Wolseley 595 111 83 25 814 
			 Yale — 1 — — 1 
			 Make Unknown 11 1 1 1 14 
			 Total 28,265 9,114 4,666 1,852 43,897

Railway Stations: Access

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress his Department is making in ensuring that railway stations are more accessible.

Norman Baker: We are committed to improving access to rail travel and have continued with the Access for All programme. This will provide accessible, step free routes to 148 priority stations by 2015 and is in addition to the upgrades being delivered through franchise commitments and major programmes of investment such as Crossrail and Thameslink. Good progress is being made with work complete at 51 stations and in progress on site at 27.
	In addition, we have introduced a new 'Medium Tier' fund for access improvements at intermediate sized stations, for which we are currently inviting applications and will continue to set aside around £5 million per year over the spending review period for train operators to use for smaller access enhancements.

Railways: North West

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from transport groups in the North West on links between west coast rail services and the channel tunnel; and if he will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport has not received any responses from Transport User Groups regarding future links between the West Coast Main Line and the High Speed 1 line.

Railways: Wales

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with the Welsh Assembly Government on future rail franchise agreements involving Welsh and cross-border rail lines.

Theresa Villiers: As part of the Intercity West Coast Franchise Consultation, which ended on 21 April, departmental officials have met with officials from the Welsh Assembly Government and received a written response to the consultation, which will be included within the summary of the Stakeholder Briefing Document. This summary of consultation responses will be published in due course. There have been no recent discussions about other future rail franchises.

Shipping

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he plans to bring forward the Marine Navigation Bill proposed by the previous administration.

Michael Penning: We continue to look at opportunities for taking forward the measures that were contained in the draft Marine Navigation Bill. An example of this approach includes the progress of implementing the Wreck Removal Convention by means of a private member's bill.

Departmental Mobile Phones

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the name is of each contractor or supplier of (a) mobile telephone and (b) mobile data services to his Department.

Bob Neill: The suppliers of (a) mobile telephone and (b) mobile data services to the Department are Vodafone and Orange.
	The Department has placed a strict approvals process (only approval by directors) on ordering new handsets and commencing new contracts. Due to the restructuring of the Department, many handsets are being returned either by those leaving or as a result of role changes where the devices are no longer needed. Any phones given to staff will be from the existing DCLG mobile phone estate. New devices will only be ordered where telephones are broken or lost and where there are no replacements handsets held in stock.

Faith Communities: Places of Worship

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to identify the requirements of faith communities and places of worship within the National Planning Policy Framework.

Bob Neill: holding answer 17 May 2011
	All proposals for changes to the wording of planning policy in England on the provision of community and social infrastructure will receive careful consideration as we continue to work to create the National Planning Policy Framework. At this stage I cannot say what exactly will appear in the draft Framework, but we are committed to full public consultation in the summer and we will welcome responses from faith communities as part of that public engagement.

Greater Manchester

Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payments his Department and its agencies have made to (a) the Manchester College, (b) Manchester College for Arts and Technology and (c) City College, Manchester since 1997; and for what purpose in each case.

Bob Neill: The Department for Communities and Local Government and the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister were created following the machinery of government changes on 5 May 2006 and 29 May 2002 respectively.
	There are no records of any payments to the Manchester College for Arts and Technology or the City College, Manchester since May 2002. Details of payments to the Manchester College are given in the following table, for both the central Department and the Government offices. Payments were in relation to Human Resources training, predominantly in relation to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development qualifications.
	Details of payments prior to May 2002 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 £ 
			 Financial year Central Department Government offices 
			 2002-04 0 0 
			 2004-05 1,677 0 
			 2005-06 0 2,643 
			 2006-07 0 2,678 
			 2007-08 29,498 13,259 
			 2008-09 15,977 14,102 
			 2009-10 5,800 16,850 
			 2010-11 0 5,745 
			 Total 52,952 55,277

Multiple Occupation

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assistance his Department makes available to local authorities seeking to return houses in multiple occupation to single units.

Grant Shapps: The overwhelming majority of Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are privately owned—particularly those which might be suitable for conversion to family housing. It is for the owner of a privately rented HMO to decide whether to convert their property back into a single unit suitable for a family. If the property is well maintained, well managed, and has any necessary planning consents, then the local authority has no powers to seek a change of use.
	Generally, a change of use from a small HMO to a family house does not require an application for planning permission unless there are local concerns about such development and the local authority have made an Article 4 direction requiring planning applications for such development. Should a landlord wish to convert a larger HMO to a family house then this will require a planning application if the local authority considers this would be a material change of use.

Multiple Occupation

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to review the changes in permitted development rights for small scale houses in multiple occupation (C4 use class); and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: In October 2010, we introduced a permitted development right to allow changes of use from family houses to small houses in multiple occupation to take place without the need to submit planning applications. We are committed to reviewing the impact of those legislative changes in 2013.
	In areas where there is a need to control houses in multiple occupation, local authorities can use an Article 4 direction to remove these permitted development rights and require planning applications for such changes of use. This gives councils the flexibility to tackle problems where they occur without imposing red tape on the wider rental market.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many invoices his Department received in respect of goods or services supplied by tier 1 suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011; and how many of those invoices were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

John Penrose: The Department received 4106 invoices, between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011, in respect of goods or services provided by its tier 1 suppliers. Of these invoices 19 were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

Government Art Collection

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will assess the merits of maintaining spending on the Government Art Collection at current levels.

Jeremy Hunt: The Government Art Collection's (GAC) budget for 2010-11 was £540,000. This included £194,000 for capital acquisitions. I have now agreed the GAC's budget for the spending review period, which is as follows:
	
		
			 £000 
			  Total Revenue Capital 
			 2011-12 347 347 0 
			 2012-13 354 354 0 
			 2013-14 478 374 114 
			 2014-15 492 373 119 
		
	
	In the first two years the GAC will not be making acquisitions, but will be focussing instead on making the collection more accessible to the public through five exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery and subsequent tour.

Olympic Games 2012: Smoking

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with (a) the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and (b) the Secretary of State for Health on making the London 2012 Olympics tobacco-free;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to ensure the London 2012 Olympics are tobacco free; whether the Olympic athletes' village will be a designated no smoking area; and whether ticketed venues for the London 2012 Olympics will be designated no smoking areas.

Hugh Robertson: Officials in the Department and the Department of Health have discussed our aspiration for a tobacco free Games with the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) on a number of occasions.
	LOCOG has confirmed that it will not be appointing a tobacco sponsor and that tobacco and cigarettes will not be sold at any of the Olympic or Paralympic venues. Smoking will also be prohibited in all ticketed sports competition, venues for the games (for example the Olympic Stadium and the Velodrome), as well as the athletes' village.

Sports: Schools

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what plans he has to assess the outcomes of the School Olympics; and what criteria he will use to conduct that assessment.

Hugh Robertson: The outcomes of the School Games will be assessed in two ways. The School Games website will record the number of schools taking part; the number of sports being played; and the number of young people taking part in intra and inter school competition. Secondly, Sport England will be carrying out a full impact evaluation of the School Games over four years. An independent research organisation will be commissioned to carry out the evaluation (managed by Sport England). Further details will be announced in the autumn.

Sports: Young People

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will bring forward proposals to encourage young people to join sports clubs.

Hugh Robertson: Sport England currently funds 34 National Governing Bodies of Sport to establish and develop links with local schools in order to increase the number of young people participating in community club-based sport. They will be providing £4.1 million per annum exchequer funding until 2012-13 to continue this work.
	In addition, the School Games and Change 4 Life Sports clubs will support young people to make the transition between school and community based sports clubs.

Elections: Armed Forces

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  how many armed forces personnel serving (a) abroad and (b) in Afghanistan were registered to vote in (i) total and (ii) each parliamentary constituency in (A) the 2010 general election and (B) the 2011 referendum on the voting system;
	(2)  how many armed forces personnel serving (a) abroad and (b) in Afghanistan (i) were registered for postal voting and (ii) voted using a postal ballot in (A) the 2010 general election and (B) the 2011 referendum on the voting system;
	(3)  how many armed forces personnel serving (a) abroad and (b) in Afghanistan (i) were registered for proxy voting and (ii) voted using a proxy in (A) the 2010 general election and (B) the 2011 referendum on the voting system.

Mark Harper: No central record is kept of the number of armed forces personnel who registered and voted at either the 2010 UK parliamentary election or the referendum on the voting system earlier this month. Armed services personnel may register to vote as ordinary electors, as service electors or, where appropriate, as overseas electors and therefore it is not possible to readily identify all of them.
	However, the Defence Analytical Services and Advice Survey conducted by the Ministry of Defence in 2009 showed that an estimated 69% of service personnel were registered to vote. The report of that survey is available from the Library of the House. The latest survey is currently being analysed, and a copy will be placed in the Library of the House upon completion by the Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans.
	Under targeted initiatives implemented for service personnel who were in Afghanistan during the May 2010 and 2011 polls, service voters were able to register for a proxy or postal vote and specific processes were put in place to support their participation. I understand that for the 2010 UK parliamentary election, 217 postal votes were successfully returned and distributed out to returning officers. In addition to this 294 applications to vote by proxy were received and forwarded to electoral registration officers. The corresponding figures for the referendum on the voting system in 2011 were 40 postal votes and 281 proxies. The use of proxies in such circumstances is recommended by both the Electoral Commission and MoD.
	However, it is not possible to know the overall totals of service personnel registered for postal or proxy votes whilst based in Afghanistan as they could have signed up outside the initiative—either as a service voter or as an 'ordinary' elector.

Electoral Register: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities in Scotland participated in the data-matching pilot scheme aimed at increasing the number of people eligible to vote.

Mark Harper: Three local authorities in Scotland will be participating in the data matching pilot schemes—the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian; the City of Glasgow and Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire and Inverclyde.
	I expect to make a full announcement on the data-matching pilots in June before the schemes are launched in the summer.

Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what changes have been made to the Carbon Reduction Commitment levy in respect of energy which also covered by a Climate Change Agreement (CCA) where the CCA holder purchases energy from a landlord since the October 2010 comprehensive spending review.

Gregory Barker: No changes have been made to the CRC Energy Efficiency scheme requirements where a Climate Change Agreement (CCA) holder purchases energy from their landlord. It remains the policy intent that there should be no double counting of energy use under CRC and CCAs.
	Where a CCA facility draws their energy from their landlord, the energy use will be counted to establish the CRC qualification of the landlord and that landlord will need to include the energy use from a tenant's CCA facilities as part of their once per phase footprint reporting obligations. However the landlord does not need to report energy use covered by a CCA facility in its annual report and it does not need to purchase CRC allowances for this energy use.

Climate Change: Developing Countries

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much of the Government's contribution of £1.5 billion to Fast Start finance for climate change from 2010 to 2012 will be provided as loans.

Gregory Barker: Of the £568 million Fast Start finance committed by the UK in 2010, £500 million was allocated to the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs), the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility and the Congo Basin Forest Fund as a capital grant used to make highly concessional loans, and with a small proportion available as grants. £68 million was allocated as grants to the Global Environment Facility and to bilateral country programmes. There is an important role for both grants and loans in climate finance. Climate finance loans are offered on highly concessional terms and can maximise the total amounts of money available for developing countries.
	The UK's 2011 and 2012 Fast Start contributions will be drawn from the £2.9 billion International Climate Fund. We will report on this when it has been disbursed.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much he plans to spend on feed-in tariffs; and how much was planned for expenditure on the scheme under the previous administration.

Gregory Barker: In last year's spending review, the Government committed to improving the efficiency of the Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) scheme to deliver £40 million of savings in 2014-15. This would be equivalent to approximately a 10% saving in 2014-15 compared with original projections, reducing costs to consumers to approximately £360 million (in nominal undiscounted prices).
	Part of the aim of both the fast-track review and the comprehensive review of the FITs scheme being carried out this year will be to consider how best to deliver the savings committed to as part of the spending review while ensuring maximum deployment at or above the levels anticipated in the FITs model inherited from the previous administration.

al-Qaeda

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Alistair Burt: The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague), has regular discussions with the US Secretary of State where they discuss a range of issues including counter-terrorism.
	Senior officials across Government are in close contact with their US counterparts on Yemen, including on countering the threat from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
	The Government's engagement with the US, and other international partners, goes wider than just counter-terrorism and includes discussions on much needed political and development reform in Yemen.

British Nationals Abroad: Sexual Offences

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to ensure that consular staff receive adequate training on legislation for prosecuting travelling sex offenders.

David Lidington: Consular staff in our embassies around the world are there to support British nationals in difficulty abroad. When Consular staff are notified of the arrest of a British national for certain serious offences, including child sex abuse, they are required to notify other relevant UK authorities. This is made clear in our publication “Support for British nationals abroad: a Guide” and is addressed in our Consular training courses for staff.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many invoices his Department received in respect of goods or services supplied by tier 1 suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011; and how many of those invoices were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

David Lidington: Fair Payment guidance refers to construction contracts only. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold a central record of all construction contracts signed between posts in more than 170 countries and local, tier 1 suppliers. Similarly on the number and timing of invoices and payments to those suppliers, this information is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what mechanism his Department has established to ensure its payments are passed through the supply chain to each tier in accordance with the last date for payment defined in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office ensures that construction contracts between itself and Tier 1 contractors include a provision for payment between the contractor and sub-contractor in accordance with the prompt payment provisions. The standard wording is used:
	“Where the Contractor enters into a sub-contract with a supplier or contractor for the purpose of performing its obligations under the Contract, It shall ensure that a provision is included in such a sub-contract which requires payment to be made of all sums due by the Contractor to the sub-contractor within a specified period not exceeding 30 days from the receipt of a valid invoice.”

Israel: Terrorism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what reports he has received of terrorist incidents in Israel since January 2011; how many British citizens were (a) killed, (b) seriously injured and (c) slightly injured in each incident; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent discussions he has had with the Arab League on terrorist incidents in Israel; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: Since January 2011, there have been two terrorist incidents involving British citizens. On 23 March 2011 a bomb exploded at a bus station in West Jerusalem: one British national was killed and one dual British-Israeli national was treated for shock. On 7 April 2011 an anti tank missile hit a school bus in Southern Israel injuring one dual British-Israeli national who later died of his injuries.
	The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) has made clear our concerns about the recent violence in Gaza and southern Israel.
	We have made clear to the Government of Israel that while Israel has every right to protect its people, it is also important that in so doing that it also shows restraint and makes every effort to avoid causing civilian casualties.
	We continue to call on all parties to act with restraint and do all they can to prevent loss of innocent life, to bring the perpetrators to justice and to reduce current tensions. We renew our calls on all sides to commit to peace talks.
	We continue to have regular dialogue with the Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab League at both ministerial and official level. A wide range of issues are discussed at these various meetings, including terrorist attacks and violence.

Malaysia: Burma

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Malaysian counterpart on (a) the right of refugees from Burma to live and work in Malaysia, (b) attendance by children of such refugees in government schools and (c) conditions in immigration centres.

Jeremy Browne: holding answer 17 May 2011
	Malaysia is not a state party to the convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees. Malaysia therefore classifies all undocumented migrants as illegal immigrants under their Immigration Act.
	Officials at our high commission in Kuala Lumpur maintain contact with Malaysian officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs, raising issues of refugees and migration. Our high commission staff are also in regular contact with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kuala Lumpur, and other domestic and international non-governmental organisations.
	In October 2010 the EU delegation discussed the rights of refugees from Burma to live and work in Malaysia with the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs during the visit of a UNHCR team. The issue of refugees will be discussed at the negotiations of an EU-Malaysia Partnership and Co-operation Agreement.

United Arab Emirates: AssetCo

John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the use of (a) military and (b) other equipment sold to the government of United Arab Emirates by AssetCo plc in recent actions in (i) Manama, Bahrain and (ii) other cities or towns in Bahrain; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: We have seen no evidence that military or other equipment sold by AssetCo plc has been used in Bahrain. We have not seen Emirati forces on the streets in Bahrain and we have seen no evidence that Gulf Co-operation forces have done anything other than safeguard installations. The Government take their arms export responsibilities very seriously, and operate one of the most rigorous arms export control regimes in the world. We do not export equipment where there is a clear risk it could be used for internal repression.

Africa: Overseas Aid

Hazel Blears: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what management and accounting mechanisms are in place to audit the utilisation of financial aid provided by his Department to (a) Sierra Leone, (b) Niger, (c) Liberia and (d) Mozambique and delivered through the (i) World Bank, (ii) UN and (iii) African Development Bank.

Andrew Mitchell: The Government have rigorous systems and procedures to ensure effective financial oversight of its funding and to ensure that aid achieves maximum value for money and delivers results for its intended recipients.
	We subject all UK aid to rigorous financial auditing, monitoring and evaluation processes. For all grants provided by the Department for International Development (DFID), we require evidence about the use of funds from the partners' own audited accounts, or other audited arrangements as agreed. DFID requirements are built into the funding agreement which details; the annual audit requirements; the monitoring and review requirements; and the option for the Government to take any reasonable and necessary steps to address the situation in the event that there is any significant failure in the commitments set out in the agreement.
	For all new UK aid programmes approved from January this year, the Government have also modified the way DFID programmes are designed so that they are based on rigorous evidence of what works and what maximises value for money and results, through the introduction of a Business Case model. All DFID projects are scored annually against expected results. Under the new Aid Transparency Guarantee we will ensure Business Cases for all projects as well as annual reviews and project completion reports are published on the DFID website so they can be scrutinised by the British taxpayer.
	The National Audit Office audits my Department's accounts and scrutinises our systems for ensuring effective management and proper use of the development budget. I have also created a new Independent Commission for Aid Impact, the first of its kind, which is able to scrutinise any area of UK bilateral and multilateral aid spending.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many invoices his Department received in respect of goods or services supplied by tier 1 suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011; and how many of those invoices were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development (DFID) is not able to disaggregate tier 1 suppliers invoice from other payment types without incurring a disproportionate cost. DFID UK made 19,244 payments between 1 May and 31 March 2011, of which 15,113 were paid within the period of time specified in the Government's five day Prompt Payment Guidance.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what mechanism his Department has established to ensure its payments are passed through the supply chain to each tier in accordance with the last date for payment defined in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

Alan Duncan: In accordance with Government's five day Prompt Payment Guidance, the Department for International Development (DFID) aims to pay all lead suppliers within five days of receiving a valid invoice.
	The Department for International Development (DFID) contract under the Central Government Framework Arrangement for Managed Service Contracts in relation to construction. We are currently reviewing our terms and conditions for construction contracts to ensure they align with central Government policy, including the Government's Fair Payment Guidance.

Departmental Billing

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many invoices his Department received in respect of goods or services supplied by tier 1 suppliers between 1 May 2010 and 1 April 2011; and how many of those invoices were not paid within the period of time specified in the Government's Fair Payment guidance.

Simon Burns: The quantity of invoices received and the number not paid within 30 days are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Month Number of invoices Total number of invoices paid over 30 days 
			 May 2010 16,491 218 
			 June 2010 17,530 163 
			 July 2010 17,330 103 
			 August 2010 16,122 47 
			 September 2010 16,069 65 
			 October 2010 14,848 58 
			 November 2010 14,956 38 
			 December 2010 13,183 29 
			 January 2011 16,825 72 
			 February 2011 16,959 88 
			 March 2011 16,950 44 
			 Total 177,263 925 
			 Note: The Department does not differentiate between Tier 1 suppliers and other creditors. The figures in the table therefore reflect invoice payments made to all commercial creditors.

Diseases: Health Services

Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether he plans to implement the recommendation of the Chief Medical Officer in his 2009 annual report to appoint a national clinical director for rare diseases;
	(2)  if he will publish an outcomes strategy for rare diseases;
	(3)  whether he plans to publish a consultation document on his proposed plan for rare diseases;
	(4)  what discussions he has had with external stakeholders on the development of his proposed plan for rare diseases.

Simon Burns: We are not yet in a position to say how the recommendation of the former Chief Medical Officer regarding the appointment of a new National Clinical Director for Rare Diseases might fit with the new arrangements for specialised commissioning that are set out in the Health and Social Care Bill. The issue of such an appointment is being considered as part of the design work for the NHS Commissioning Board.
	The Department is working with the devolved Administrations and key stakeholders to develop a plan for rare disease by 2013 in line with the European Council recommendation. Officials in the Department have held meetings with the devolved Administrations and several key stakeholders as part of the development of a plan for rare disease and will continue to engage with key partners.
	The NHS Outcomes Framework sets out national outcomes goals. The NHS Commissioning Board would decide how best to deliver improvements on the ground and translate the national outcomes into outcomes and indicators that are meaningful at local level in the Commissioning Outcomes Framework. It will be for the shadow NHS Commissioning Board to take forward work on developing the Commissioning Outcomes Framework, with the support of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

Fluoride: Drinking Water

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated research on whether to mandate strategic health authorities to add fluoride to water supplies.

Anne Milton: Since 1964, the Department has commissioned a number of studies, which show that dental decay is lower in areas in which the fluoride content of the water supply has been adjusted to a level of one milligram per litre. No research has been conducted on mandation since it has been the policy of successive governments that decisions on fluoridation should be taken locally. The Health and Social Care Bill proposes that responsibility for consultations on proposals for fluoridation schemes and the ascertainment of opinion should transfer to local authorities.

Hospitals: North East

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether (a) he and (b) any other Minister in his Department have visited a hospital in the North East since May 2010.

Simon Burns: Since May 2010 the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), has not visited any hospitals in the north-east.
	My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Earl Howe) has visited Darlington Memorial Hospital.

NHS: Managers

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that NHS managers with previous experience in the private sector are recruited; what importance he places on experience in external organisations for NHS managers; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: There are no current initiatives designed specifically to recruit people with previous experience in the private sector or external organisations, as national health service managers.
	The NHS welcomes suitable employees from all backgrounds, and all NHS employers are expected to ensure that their local recruitment policies are fair, transparent and free from discrimination. In addition, all NHS trusts and primary care trusts are expected to comply with the guidelines for the process for senior appointments set out in a letter of 18 October 2006 from the NHS Chief Executive. Foundation trusts are required to follow Monitor's Code of Governance for NHS Foundation Trusts, published in September 2006. Copies have been placed in the Library.

NHS: Reorganisation

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance he has issued to the NHS on the effect of the pause in the progress of the Health and Social Care Bill on the implementation of the proposed changes set out in the Bill.

Simon Burns: The Government are currently pausing, listening and reflecting to improve plans regarding the Health and Social Care Bill. Sir David Nicholson, the NHS chief executive, wrote to the national health service on 13 April. The NHS chief executive addressed delivery of NHS services in 2011-12 and beyond, progress on modernisation to date and the effect of the Listening Exercise on NHS activity.
	The NHS Chief Executive's letter is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_126060.pdf
	and a copy has been placed in the Library.

Nurses: Manpower

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many specialist nurses for (a) breast cancer, (b) haemophilia and (c) sickle cell and thalassaemia there were in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The information is not collected centrally through the annual national health service work force census. The annual work force census does not separately identify specialist nurses. However, the 2010 Census of Cancer Specialist Nurses in England shows that of the 2,771.1 full-time equivalent (FTE) cancer specialist nurses, 523.32 FTE worked in breast cancer care.

Nurses: West Midlands

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will take steps to protect nursing in the West Midlands from the reduction in nursing commissions planned by the West Midlands strategic health authority.

Anne Milton: The service level agreement between the Department and the strategic health authorities (SHAs) for the Multi-Professional Education and Training budget requires SHAs to base their education and training commissioning plans on the work force plans of providers. The West Midlands SHA has confirmed that they have finalised their plans based on work force planning information and following discussions with national health service organisations and higher education institutions providing health professional training programmes. Departmental officials will work with the SHA to review the situation and ensure that the planned level of commissions remains appropriate.

School Milk

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what consideration the Early Years Strategy will take of the effect on children's health of the provision of free school milk in nurseries.

Sarah Teather: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government believe that the early years are crucial to the future success and well-being of all children and will publish a statement of their vision for the early years later this summer. Ensuring that children enjoy good health, including through a properly balanced diet, is an important factor in securing a strong foundation for later life chances.
	The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out standards for the provision of healthy, balanced and nutritious food and drink for children in child care up to age five. Dame Clare Tickell's recent review of the framework looked at this issue, informed by the report of the Advisory Panel for Food and Nutrition in Early Years. The Government have welcomed Dame Clare's report and we intend to respond to it in full in the summer, and consult on improvements to the EYFS. The report was published on 30 March and is available at:
	www.education.gov.uk/tickellreview

School Milk

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many children in each local authority area received free milk in each of the last five financial years.

Anne Milton: The Department does not collect information on how many children in each local authority area receive a free drink of milk through the Nursery Milk scheme. All children under five in day care for two or more hours a day receive a daily drink of milk (one-third of a pint). It currently funds free milk for approximately 1.5 million children under five years old in approximately 55,000 child care settings throughout Great Britain.

Academies: Berkshire

Alok Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of progress on the academies programme in (a) Reading West constituency, (b) Reading and (c) Berkshire.

Nick Gibb: To date in the Reading West constituency, Churchend Primary School opened as a converted academy on 1 February 2011 and The Avenue School has an academy order and is aiming to convert on 1 September 2011. John Madejski Academy opened as a sponsored academy on 1 September 2006. A further nine schools have expressed an interest in becoming an academy. We do not release details of these schools at this early stage in their thinking about converting to Academy status.
	In the rest of Reading, Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre opened as a converted academy on 1 November 2010, Reading School and Kendrick School opened as converted academies on 1 February 2011. A further two schools have expressed an interest in becoming an academy.
	In West Berkshire, Kennet School in Thatcham opened as a converted academy on 1 April 2011 and Park House School and Sports College in Newbury opened as a converted academy on 1 May 2011. A further five schools have expressed an interest in becoming an academy.
	Full details of schools that have formally applied for academy status, as well as a list of academies that have opened in the academic year 2010/11 can be found on the DFE academies website at
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies/a0069811/schools-submitting-applications-and-academies-that-have-opened-in-201011

Children: Day Care

Karen Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many childcare places for children under five years were provided in each local authority area (a) in total and (b) as a full-time equivalent in (i) 1997, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2009-10.

Sarah Teather: This is a matter for Ofsted. The HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.

Disadvantaged: Milton Kenyes

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children received free school meals in each school in the Milton Keynes local education authority area in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: Information on free school meal eligibility is shown in the following table.
	School level information, for all schools in England, can be found at the following link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000925/index.shtml
	under the heading ‘Publication's Underlying Data’.
	
		
			 Maintained nursery, maintained primary  (1)  , state-funded secondary  (1,2)  , special schools  (3)   and pupil referral units: Free school meal eligibility in Milton Keynes local authority  (4,5)  —As at January 2010 
			 Establishment number School name School type Number on roll  (4,5) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  (4,5) Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  (4,5) 
			 6905 Milton Keynes Academy Academy 1,055 242 22.9 
			 2000 Wavendon Gate School Primary 411 14 3.4 
			 2001 Merebrook Infant School Primary 174 16 9.2 
			 2002 Portfields Combined School Primary 564 11 2.0 
			 2003 Chestnuts Primary School Primary 263 41 15.6 
			 2005 Brooksward School Primary 279 44 15.8 
			 2006 Howe Park School Primary 174 17 9.8 
			 2007 Long Meadow School Primary 423 35 8.3 
			 2008 Monkston Primary School Primary 421 27 6.4 
			 2009 Knowles Junior School Primary 177 47 26.6 
			 2010 Knowles Infant School Primary 161 43 26.7 
			 2011 Queen Eleanor Primary School Primary 167 100 59.9 
			 2012 Christ the Sower Ecumenical Primary School (VA) Primary 353 23 6.5 
			 2015 Castlethorpe First School Primary 40 0 0.0 
			 2016 Middleton Primary School Primary 423 23 5.4 
			 2017 Broughton Fields Primary School Primary 405 69 17.0 
			 2035 Emberton School Primary 28 5 17.9 
			 2042 Hanslope Primary School Primary 219 14 6.4 
			 2043 Haversham Village School Primary 37 (1)— (1)— 
			 2062 Oldbrook First School Primary 155 27 17.4 
			 2067 Lavendon School Primary 91 5 5.5 
			 2076 New Bradwell School Primary 293 65 22.2 
			 2082 Olney Infant School Primary 238 14 5.9 
			 2112 Russell Street School Primary 172 3 1.7 
			 2121 Bushfield School Primary 287 58 20.2 
			 2122 Wyvern School Primary 232 45 19.4 
			 2133 Eaton Mill Primary School Primary 348 118 33.9 
			 2185 Holne Chase Primary School Primary 277 26 9.4 
			 2231 Water Hall Primary School Primary 259 116 44.8 
			 2238 Barleyhurst Park Primary Primary 202 21 10.4 
			 2247 Pepper Hill School Primary 123 43 35.0 
			 2272 Greenleys Infant School Primary 136 58 42.6 
			 2277 Simpson School Primary 211 70 33.2 
			 2281 Olney Middle School Primary 365 26 7.1 
			 2284' Langland Community School Primary 263 116 44.1 
			 2285 Falconhurst School ' Primary 329 53 16.1 
			 2294 Moorland Infant School Primary 81 39 48.1 
			 2299 Southwood School Primary 178 60 33.7 
			 2301 Stanton School Primary 223 73 32.7 
			 2303 Great Linford Primary School Primary 269 50 18.6 
			 2305 Greenleys Junior School Primary 201 74 36.8 
			 2306 Wood End First School Primary 82 32 39.0 
		
	
	
		
			 2309 Bradwell Village School Primary 241 32 13.3 
			 2310 Orchard School Primary 173 53 30.6 
			 2313 Downs Barn School Primary 86 24 27.9 
			 2314 Meadfurlong School Primary 262 53 20.2 
			 2316 Germander Park School Primary 65 34 52.3 
			 2319 Shepherdswell School Primary 99 32 32.3 
			 2320 The Willows School and Early Years Centre Primary 80 23 28.8 
			 2322 Priory Common School Primary 162 29 17.9 
			 2323 Giffard Park Primary School Primary 261 32 12.3 
			 2324 Heelands School Primary 86 16 18.6 
			 2325 Penwith School Primary 128 49 38.3 
			 2326 Ashbrook School Primary 179 11 6.1 
			 2327 Summerfield School Primary 326 55 16.9 
			 2330 Willen Primary School Primary 371 18 4.9 
			 2331 Heronsgate School Primary 385 29 7.5 
			 2332 Loughton School Primary 470 44 9.4 
			 2334 Holmwood School Primary 178 46- 25.8 
			 2336 Caroline Haslett Primary School Primary 432 47 10.9 
			 2337 Green Park School Primary 291 14 4.8 
			 2346 Cedars Combined School Primary 250 21 8.4 
			 2347 Glastonbury Thorn School Primary 254 21 8.3 
			 2348 Abbeys Primary School Primary 273 75 27.5 
			 2349 Heronshaw School Primary 170 14 8.2 
			 2350 Kents Hill School Primary 167 26 15.6 
			 2351 Drayton Park School Primary 218 85 39.0 
			 2353 Emerson Valley School Primary 458 59 12,9 
			 2506 Loughton Manor First School Primary 180 11 6.1 
			 3000 Cold Harbour Church of England School Primary 277 17 6.1 
			 3003 Newton Blossomville Church of England School Primary 25 0 0.0 
			 3004 North Crawley C of E School Primary 36 0 0.0 
			 3005 Sherington Church of England School Primary 23 0 0.0 
			 3006 Stoke Goldington Church of England School Primary 19 0 0.0 
			 3058 St Mary's Wavendon C of E Primary Primary 95 3 3.2 
			 3066 St Andrew's C of E Infant School Primary 38 0 0.0 
			 3348 St Mary and St Giles Church of England Junior School Primary 209 13 6.2 
			 3369 St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School Primary 283 6 2.1 
			 3376 Giles Brook Primary School Primary 416 15 3.6 
			 3377 Bishop Parker Catholic School Primary 189 16 8.5 
			 3378 St Monica's Catholic Primary School Primary 386 33 8.5 
			 3379 St Mary Magdalene Catholic Primary School Primary 265 29 10.9 
			 3383 St Bernadette's Catholic Primary School Primary 305 18 5.9 
			 3384 Bow Brickhill C of E VA Primary School Primary 95 (1)— (1)— 
			 3385 New Chapter School Primary 280 75 26.8 
			 3388 Oxley Park Primary School Primary 430 20 4.7 
			 3389 Tickford Park Primary School Primary 320 13 4.1 
			 3392 Priory Rise School Primary 116 11 9.5 
			 5207 Two Mile Ash School Primary 653 53 8.1 
			 5208 Rickley Park Primary School Primary 400 69 17.3 
		
	
	
		
			 1105 Manor Road Resource Centre Pupil referral unit 57 22 38.6 
			 1106 Fenny House—the Milton Keynes Tuition Service Pupil referral unit 84 4 4.8 
			 1107 Milton Keynes Primary Pupil Referral Unit Pupil referral unit 3 0 0.0 
			 4000 Walton High Secondary 1,070 75 7.0 
			 4018 Ousedale School Secondary 1,649 50 3.0 
			 4077 Leon School and Sports College Secondary 627 232 37.0 
			 4097 Shenley Brook End School Secondary 1,203 76 6.3 
			 4702 St Paul's Catholic School Secondary 1,297 112 8.6 
			 4703 Oakgrove School Secondary 874 98 11.2 
			 4704 Hazeley School Secondary 910 60 6.6 
			 5400 Stantonbury Campus Secondary 2,107 392 18.6 
			 5405 Lord Grey School Secondary 1,209 122 10.1 
			 5406 The Radcliffe School Secondary 817 204 25.0 
			 5410 Denbigh School Secondary 1,012 78 7.7 
			 7009 White Spire School Special 109 32 29.4 
			 7015 Romans Field School Special 50 13 26.0 
			 7021 The Walnuts School Special 115 13 11.3 
			 7026 Slated Row School Special 133 45 33.8 
			 7033 The Gatehouse School Special 39 13 33.3 
			 7034 The Redway School Special 77 25 32.5 
			 (1)— One or two pupils, or a percentage based on one or two pupils. (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies, however there are no city technology colleges in Milton Keynes local authority. (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, however there are no non-maintained special schools in Milton Keynes local authority. Excludes general hospital schools. (4) Includes sole and dual (main) registrations. Pupil referral units include pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. (5) Includes pupils who have full time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between five and 15 (age as at 31 August 2009). Source: School Census

Education: Finance

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether the £1,200 guaranteed bursary allocated from discretionary learner support funds for those in a vulnerable group is part of the same funding stream as the remainder of the 16 to 19 bursary fund.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 12 May 2011
	Under our proposed arrangements for the 16-19 Bursary Fund there will be a single funding stream covering allocations to schools, colleges and training providers. The funding will allow them to award discretionary bursaries and guaranteed bursaries to those young people in vulnerable groups.

Education: Finance

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate his Department has made of the number of applications for funding in academic year 2011-12 under the proposed 16 to 19 bursary.

Nick Gibb: We have estimated that around 12,000 young people may be eligible each academic year for a guaranteed annual bursary of £1,200. Beyond this, the 16-19 Bursary Fund is discretionary and decisions as to who will be supported will be made by schools, colleges and training organisations; no central estimate has been made. We will monitor the introduction of the new arrangements, including how many young people receive support from the 16-19 Bursary Fund.

Free School Meals: Sunderland

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children in Sunderland received free school meals in the last five years.

Nick Gibb: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in Sunderland for 2006 to 2010 is shown in the following tables. The answer includes full time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part time pupils aged five to 15.
	
		
			 Maintained nursery, maintained primary  (1)  , state funded secondary  (1,2)   and special schools  (3)  : free school meal eligibility  (4,5)  , as at January each year, Sunderland local authority 
			  Maintained nursery and maintained primary schools  (1) State-funded secondary schools  (1,2) 
			  Number on roll  (4,5) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  (4,5) Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals Number on roll  (4,5) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  (4,5) Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 
			 2006 21,891 4,874 22.3 18,242 2,748 15.1 
			 2007 21,189 4,674 22.1 17,777 2,581 14.5 
			 2008 20,701 4,920 23.8 17,087 2.992 17.5 
			 2009 20,003 4,434 22.2 16,901 2,903 17.2 
			 2010 19.822 4,852 24.5 16,478 3,234 19.6 
		
	
	
		
			  Special schools  (3) Maintained nursery, maintained primary, state-funded secondary and special schools  (1,2,3) 
			  Number on roll  (4,5) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  (4,5) Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals Number on roll  (4,5) Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals  (4,5) Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 
			 2006 492 191 38.8 40,625 7,813 19.2 
			 2007 481 175 36.4 39,447 7,430 18.8 
			 2008 462 180 39.0 38,250 8.092 21.2 
			 2009 450 168 37.3 37,354 7,505 20.1 
			 2010 444 170 38.3 36,744 8,256 22.5 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies. (3) Includes maintained and non maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (4) Includes sole and dual (main) registrations. (5) Includes full-time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part-time pupils aged five to 15. Source: School Census

Free Schools: Teachers

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether teaching staff in free schools will be required to have qualified teacher status; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Innovation, diversity and flexibility are at the heart of the free schools policy. In that spirit we will not be setting overly prescriptive requirements in relation to qualifications, although a free school's special educational needs co-ordinator and designated teacher for children in care will still require Qualified Teacher Status.
	We will expect applications to demonstrate how each free school's governing body intends to guarantee the highest quality of teaching and leadership in their school. No school will be allowed to proceed unless its proposals for high quality teaching are soundly based.

International Baccalaureate

Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) state schools and (b) sixth form colleges offer the International Baccalaureate.

Nick Gibb: There are 42 maintained (state) schools and 12 sixth form colleges offering the International Baccalaureate.
	These figures have been based on students entered for the International Baccalaureate in maintained (state) schools and sixth form colleges for 2010. We do not hold information regarding the actual number of maintained (state) schools and sixth form colleges offering the International Baccalaureate.

Learning Disability: Parents

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assistance his Department provides to parents with learning difficulties.

Sarah Teather: The Government appreciates that some parents need extra help because they experience a multitude of problems, which can include learning difficulties. There is a great deal of evidence that parenting and intensive family intervention services are cost effective and can provide much needed help for these families. In December 2010, the Prime Minister announced a new national campaign to support and help turn around the lives of all families with multiple problems. All parents of young children, including those with learning difficulties, are also able to use their local Sure Start Children's Centre to gain access to early years services.
	These activities are funded through the Early Intervention Grant of £2,222 million in 2011-12. The Government wants to retain the national network of Sure Start Children's Centres with a core universal offer, while also ensuring they deliver proven early intervention programmes to support those families in greatest need. The grant is intended to fund universal programmes and activities available to all children, young people and families, as well as specialist services where intensive support is needed.
	All parents, including those with learning difficulties, are able to access the online and telephone family support services funded by the Department. The online services have to meet the Department's accessibility specifications and the telephone services use trained staff who are able to support all service users effectively.

Music: English Baccalaureate

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will review the decision to exclude music from the English Baccalaureate in light of the conclusions and recommendations of the independent Henley Review of music education in England.

Nick Gibb: The English Baccalaureate is not intended as a list of the only valuable or rigorous subjects.
	We recognise the importance of music which is why we commissioned Darren Henley's review of music education. We will respond to his recommendations with a new national plan for music education in the summer.

Physics: Teachers

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on the number of physics teachers in schools.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 16 May 2011
	We have routine discussions with representatives of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics community and other subject associations which help inform policy development. We have also received letters recently from both the Institute of Physics and the Royal Society in which teacher recruitment has been raised. Raising the number of specialist science teachers in schools is a high priority for the Government and we have already confirmed that trainees starting postgraduate teacher training courses in physics will be offered the highest bursary rate of £9,000 in academic year 2011/12.
	The Department will shortly publish a discussion document on the funding of initial teacher training, including financial incentives for trainees in physics, from academic year 2012/13. The document will provide the opportunity for those who have an interest in, or are directly involved with, the training of teachers to provide comments on our proposals.
	Figures from the School Workforce Census published by the Department on 20 April showed that in November 2010 the headcount of teachers teaching physics in all publicly funded secondary schools was 5,600. Of this number, 68.6% held a relevant post A-level qualification.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the educational achievement of disadvantaged children in (a) Pendle and (b) England.

Nick Gibb: In line with the Coalition Government's commitment to raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils in under-performing schools we have invested £125 million in the Education Endowment Fund. This fund, administered by the Sutton Trust, in partnership with the Impetus Trust, has been established to fund bold and innovative approaches to raising the attainment of these pupils.
	We have also introduced the pupil premium, which guarantees additional funding for schools with deprived children, and ensures that the poorest children, wherever they live, are able to receive the right support. Total funding will be £625 million in 2011-12, and will rise to £2,5 billion a year by 2014-15.
	The pupil premium—£430 per pupil—will be allocated to schools, including those in Pendle, in June based on the number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) and those pupils who have been looked after continuously for at least six months in each school. It will be for schools to decide how to spend their pupil premium allocation in order to achieve the best results for their disadvantaged pupils.

Pupils: Dyslexia

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people have been assessed as having dyslexia in each local education authority area in each of the last three years.

Sarah Teather: Information on pupils with dyslexia is not available.
	A table showing the number of pupils with statements of special educational needs or at School Action Plus whose primary need has been identified as specific learning difficulty (SLD) by local authority area for 2008 to 2010 has been placed in the House Libraries. Pupils with dyslexia as their primary need are included in the SLD category.
	This information has been published in the series of Statistical First Releases entitled “Special Educational Needs in England”:
	2010 data:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000939/index.shtml
	in tables 23 to 25;
	2009 data:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000852/index.shtml
	in tables 21 to 23;
	2008 data:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000794/index.shtml
	in tables 20 to 22.

School Leaving

Andy Burnham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has for the future of the September Guarantee in the comprehensive spending review period.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 9 May 2011
	My noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Schools, wrote to all local authorities on 17 February to clarify that the process of offering 16 and 17-year-olds a suitable place in education or training by the end of September, which has been known as the ‘September Guarantee’, will continue. This will help to ensure that more young people have the opportunity to continue their education as we move towards full participation of 16 and 17-year-olds by 2015. A copy of this letter is available on the Department's website at:
	www.education.gov.uk/offersofeducationandtraining
	Data from local authorities shows that in 2009, 95.9% of 16-year-olds and 89.5% of 17-year-olds received an offer of a place in education or training. In 2010, 96.6% of 16-year-olds and 91.3% of 17-year-olds received an offer of a place.

Schools: Admissions

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to ensure that commissioners are able to assess the effectiveness of the placement of pupils in (a) non-maintained and (b) maintained special schools.

Sarah Teather: Local authorities place children with statements of special educational needs (SEN) in non-maintained and maintained special schools. Local authorities are under a duty to arrange appropriate provision for such children so that their SEN are met and to review the statement at least annually to ensure that the provision continues to meet the child's SEN.
	Local authorities have Ofsted inspection reports available to help them assess a special school's overall effectiveness. The Annual Report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector 2009/10 found on assessment of overall effectiveness that 35% of maintained special schools were outstanding, 43% were good, 17% were satisfactory and 5% were inadequate. The report also noted that “one of the successes reported this year is the effectiveness of many [non-maintained] residential special schools, often outstanding at helping children achieve and enjoy what they do”.
	The Schools White Paper, ‘The Importance of Teaching’, and the Green Paper, ‘Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability’, set out a strong strategic role for local authorities acting as the champions for parents and families, vulnerable children, and educational excellence. For disabled children and those with SEN the Green Paper sees one of the core features of the local authority role as working collaboratively with providers to commission a range of high quality provision, and to identify and challenge services that are letting down families.

Schools: Admissions

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of pupils there are in (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) all schools in each local education authority area.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 13 May 2011
	The requested data is shown in the following table.
	Information on pupil numbers by school type and local authority is published as part of the Statistical First Release 'Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics: January 2010', available at
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000925/index.shtml
	
		
			 Number and percentage of pupils by type of school  (1, 2, 3)  . As at January 2010. In England, by local authority area and region 
			  Maintained primary  (1) State-funded secondary  (1, 2) All schools  (4, 5) 
			  Number of pupils  (3) Percentage of pupils Number of pupils  (3) Percentage of pupils Number of pupils  (3) 
			 England(5) 4,093,715 50.8 3,252,135 40.3 8,064,300 
			       
			 North East(5) 202,870 51.5 169,215 43.0 393,780 
			 Darlington 6,801 55.9 5,888 37.4 15,730 
			 Durham 39,538 53.1 30,467 40.9 74,455 
			 Gateshead 15,170 51.8 12,605 43.0 29,305 
			 Hartlepool 8,665 57.2 6,234 41.1 15,155 
			 Middlesbrough 13,661 60.8 8,269 36.8 22,475 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 19,237 47.0 15,978 39.0 40,955 
			 North Tyneside 15,785 51.7 13,202 43.2 30,530 
			 Northumberland 17,912 37.2 29,265 60.8 48,115 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 12,434 56.2 9,366 42.3 22,140 
			 South Tyneside 11,811 54.7 9,066 42.0 21,610 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 17,414 56.1 11,340 36.5 31,045 
			 Sunderland 22,440 53.1 17,537 41.5 42,260 
			       
			 North West(5) 575,700 53.2 433,975 40.1 1,082,195 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 14,316 52.2 9,456 34.5 27,425 
			 Blackpool 11,338 55.0 7,897 38.3 20,610 
			 Bolton 25,138 52.3 18,910 39.4 48,030 
			 Bury 16,154 53.9 11,117 37.1 29,970 
			 Cheshire East 26,858 49.7 22,337 41.3 54,065 
			 Cheshire West and Chester 24,982 48.4 21,656 42.0 51,600 
			 Cumbria 37,484 50.0 33,576 44.8 74,975 
			 Halton 9,971 54.6 7,536 41.3 18,260 
			 Knowsley 14,223 64.1 7,497 33.8 22,205 
			 Lancashire 89,941 52.8 69,324 40.7 170,400 
			 Liverpool 35,665 51.3 30,766 44.2 69,535 
		
	
	
		
			 Manchester 41,604 57.6 23,400 32.4 72,290 
			 Oldham 23,499 56.9 15,918 38.6 41,285 
			 Rochdale 19,307 58.2 12,695 38.3 33,150 
			 Salford 19,080 56.9 10,946 32.6 33,550 
			 Sefton 21,706 48.9 19,176 43.2 44,430 
			 St Helens 14,620 55.5 10,661 40.4 26,365 
			 Stockport 22,563 52.4 14,665 34.1 43,020 
			 Tameside 19,747 56.9 14,307 41.3 34,675 
			 Trafford 19,667 50.8 16,562 42.8 38,685 
			 Warrington 17,267 55.6 13,318 42.9 31,075 
			 Wigan 25,382 56.0 19,114 42.1 45,365 
			 Wirral 25,190 49.2 23,142 45.2 51,240 
			       
			 Yorkshire and the Humber(5) 435,500 53.6 331,175 40.8 811,885 
			 Barnsley 19,228 58.9 12,920 39.6 32,645 
			 Bradford 53,648 57.3 33,952 36.3 93,570 
			 Calderdale 18,734 52.2 15,391 42.9 35,880 
			 Doncaster 25,896 54.4 20,493 43.0 47,620 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 24,476 49.1 22,630 45.4 49,870 
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of 21,012 57.3 13,696 37.3 36,700 
			 Kirklees 35,923 55.2 25,872 39.8 65,025 
			 Leeds 61,545 54.3 45,732 40.3 113,375 
			 North East Lincolnshire 13,390 56.2 9,591 40.3 23,810 
			 North Lincolnshire 13,598 56.9 9,932 41.6 23,900 
			 North Yorkshire 42,761 47.3 40,249 44.5 90,445 
			 Rotherham 22,671 52.4 19,374 44.8 43,240 
			 Sheffield 41,770 54.7 30,392 39.8 76,325 
			 Wakefield 27,911 51.9 21,019 39.0 53,630 
			 York 12,936 50.4 9,931 38.7 25,655 
			       
			 East Midlands(5) 349,885 51.0 292,555 42.7 685,800 
			 Derby 21,551 53.6 16,262 40.4 40,230 
			 Derbyshire 58,830 51.9 48,390 42.7 113,450 
			 Leicester 28,099 57.2 17,933 36.5 49,085 
			 Leicestershire 46,950 47.0 45,506 45.5 99,950 
			 Lincolnshire 50,610 47.9 48,250 45.7 105,605 
			 Northamptonshire 55,686 50.0 47,788 42.9 111,420 
			 Nottingham 23,177 55.5 14,733 35.3 41,785 
			 Nottinghamshire 62,442 53.3 51,321 43.8 117,235 
			 Rutland 2,542 36.1 2,372 33.7 7,040 
			       
			 West Midlands(5) 461,070 52.2 360,475 40.8 883,975 
			 Birmingham 102,093 55.2 69,082 37.3 185,080 
			 Coventry 27,599 53.6 19,878 38.6 51,465 
			 Dudley 26,792 56.3 19,694 41.4 47,590 
			 Herefordshire 12,382 50.6 10,058 41.1 24,480 
			 Sandwell 30,280 59.3 20,326 39.8 51,075 
			 Shropshire 20,839 48.0 16,832 38.8 43,370 
			 Solihull 19,183 49.5 17,020 43.9 38,785 
			 Staffordshire 60,940 49.1 56,279 45.3 124,195 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 21,003 59.8 13,105 37.3 35,105 
			 Telford and Wrekin 14,043 51.2 11,823 43.1 27,450 
			 Walsall 25,716 52.5 20,721 42.3 48,940 
			 Warwickshire 39,929 49.1 33,602 41.3 81,275 
			 Wolverhampton 21,959 54.6 15,298 38.0 40,235 
			 Worcestershire 38,303 45.1 36,755 43.3 84,925 
			       
			 East of England(5) 431,910 43.1 386,960 43.0 898,860 
			 Bedford 9,288 31.2 14,872 50.0 29,725 
		
	
	
		
			 Central Bedfordshire 15,789 40.3 22,085 56.4 39,155 
			 Cambridgeshire 43,932 50.5 32,373 37.2 87,050 
			 Essex 104,289 50.2 89,028 42.9 207,600 
			 Hertfordshire 92,917 46.6 80,327 40.3 199,235 
			 Luton 19,161 57.1 12,294 36.6 33,580 
			 Norfolk 58,632 50.6 49,500 42.7 115,930 
			 Peterborough 15,795 52.7 13,177 44.0 29,970 
			 Southend-on-Sea 13,438 47.7 13,000 46.2 28,155 
			 Suffolk 44,635 42.4 51,422 48.9 105,180 
			 Thurrock 14,032 60.3 3,880 38.1 23,280 
			       
			 London(5) 644,625 51.5 451,055 36.1 1,251,135 
			       
			 Inner London(5) 232,100 51.6 140,330 31.2 449,800 
			 Camden 11,489 39.2 9,892 33.8 29,290 
			 City of London 233 10.3 (6)— (6)— 2,260 
			 Hackney 18,074 53.1 8,551 25.1 34,060 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 9,940 41.5 7,051 29.4 23,960 
			 Haringey 21,952 56.8 13,205 34.2 38,665 
			 Islington 13,313 59.7 7,913 34.2 23,145 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 7,046 30.5 3,596 15.5 23,135 
			 Lambeth 20,848 62.3 9,747 29.1 33,490 
			 Lewisham 22,040 56.9 14,065 36.3 38,715 
			 Newham 31,984 61.3 17,970 34.4 52,215 
			 Southwark 22,380 53.3 13,107 31.2 41,970 
			 Tower Hamlets 23,212 56.9 14,783 36.2 40,795 
			 Wandsworth 17,815 44.9 11,494 29.0 39,700 
			 Westminster 11,272 39.7 8,958 31.5 28,395 
			       
			 Outer London(5) 412,530 51.5 310,720 38.8 801,335 
			 Barking and Dagenham 20,144 59.9 13,013 38.7 33,630 
			 Barnet 27,169 48.3 21,516 38.2 56,280 
			 Bexley 20,259 49.1 19,943 48.3 41,290 
			 Brent 24,247 53.7 17,973 39.8 45,190 
			 Bromley 23,706 46.2 22,638 44.1 51,280 
			 Croydon 29,345 49.9 21,032 35.8 58,765 
			 Ealing 27,771 53.6 17,865 34.5 51,835 
			 Enfield 28,679 54.2 22,235 42.0 52,905 
			 Greenwich 21,752 53.8 14,429 35.7 40,455 
			 Harrow 19,793 56.3 9,967 28.4 35,125 
			 Havering 19,228 51.9 16,655 44.9 37,055 
			 Hillingdon 25,339 52.4 18,534 38.3 48,365 
			 Hounslow 19,646 51.8 16,561 43.7 37,930 
			 Kingston upon Thames 12,153 46.4 9,960 38.0 26,200 
			 Merton 16,133 56.1 8,553 29.8 28,740 
			 Redbridge 26,200 50.0 21,624 41.3 52,390 
			 Richmond upon Thames 13,882 46.1 6,649 22.1 30,120 
			 Sutton 14,886 44.0 16,775 49.5 33,855 
			 Waltham Forest 22,196 55.6 14,799 37.1 39,920 
			       
			 South East(5) 625,470 48.1 504,930 38.8 1,300,695 
			 Bracknell Forest 8,903 48.2 6,330 34.3 18,450 
			 Brighton and Hove 17,340 49.3 12,160 34.6 35,135 
			 Buckinghamshire 39,859 47.3 34,724 41.2 84,345 
			 East Sussex 34,898 49.7 27,418 39.0 70,260 
			 Hampshire 94,440 51.5 69,678 38.0 183,475 
			 Isle of Wight 6,293 33.3 11,436 60.5 18,905 
			 Kent 108,669 47.1 99,329 43.1 230,570 
			 Medway 22,196 50.9 19,292 44.2 43,620 
		
	
	
		
			 Milton Keynes 21,884 53.8 16,674 41.0 40,660 
			 Oxfordshire 47,668 47.2 35,785 35.4 101,070 
			 Portsmouth 13,929 52.0 8,956 33.4 26,780 
			 Reading 10,930 52.3 6,345 30.4 20,890 
			 Slough 12,860 52.6 9,958 40.8 24,435 
			 Southampton 16,152 56.3 10,314 35.9 28,710 
			 Surrey 79,501 44.4 59,584 33.3 179,125 
			 West Berkshire 12,344 43.3 12,067 42.4 28,480 
			 West Sussex 56,398 49.2 44,587 38.9 114,665 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 8,748 34.9 10,123 40.4 25,040 
			 Wokingham 12,457 47.8 10,170 39.0 26,080 
			       
			 South West(5) 366,685 48.5 321,800 42.6 755,980 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 11,839 40.5 12,518 42.8 29,250 
			 Bournemouth 10,246 47.2 9,742 44.8 21,730 
			 Bristol, City of 29,430 53.5 17,079 31.1 54,980 
			 Cornwall 37,462 51.7 31,859 43.9 72,525 
			 Devon 51,855 50.0 42,628 41.1 103,770 
			 Dorset 23,753 39.7 29,697 49.6 59,885 
			 Gloucestershire 41,593 45.9 39,710 43.8 90,685 
			 Isles of Scilly 275 100.0 (6)— (6)— 275 
			 North Somerset 15,245 52.0 12,749 43.5 29,330 
			 Plymouth 18,579 48.3 17,894 46.5 38,450 
			 Poole 10,135 51.6 8,296 42.2 19,640 
			 Somerset 35,387 46.3 31,245 40.9 76,435 
			 South Gloucestershire 20,847 51.9 18,376 45.8 40,130 
			 Swindon 16,355 55.7 12,388 42.2 29,345 
			 Torbay 9,532 50.0 8,582 45.0 19,075 
			 Wiltshire 34,151 48.5 29,037 41.2 70,485 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies. (3) Excludes dual registrations. In Pupil Referral Units, also includes pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. (4 )Includes maintained and direct grant nursery schools, maintained primary and secondary schools, city technology colleges, academies, maintained and non-maintained special schools, pupil referral units and independent schools. (5) National and regional totals and totals across school categories have been rounded to the nearest 5. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown. (6) Not applicable, no schools of this type. Source: School Census

Schools: Standards

Jackie Doyle-Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Education with reference to his letter of 10 March 2011 to local education authorities, how many local authorities have submitted plans to raise the performance of schools above minimum standards.

Nick Gibb: Of the 152 local authorities in England, 147 have submitted plans to raise the performance of their maintained schools above the floor standards. The remaining five local authorities do not have schools below the floor standards and, therefore, did not need to submit a plan.

Special Educational Needs

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the contribution of the Minister of State for Children and Families of 30 March 2011, Official Report, column 92WH, on children with special educational needs, what mechanisms he plans to put in place to ensure (a) (i) planning, (ii) consistency and (iii) quality of local provision and (b) continuation of shared services for schools, including training of the schools workforce by speech and language therapists under his proposals that speech and language therapy services may be provided for under personal budgets.

Sarah Teather: The Green Paper on special educational needs and disability, “Support and aspiration; A new approach to special educational needs and disability”, sets out how personal budgets could be used to enhance the control parents have over the support services they receive for their child. We are piloting the personal budget approach to ensure that local authorities properly understand how they and their partners should commission services to ensure all children can access high quality provision, whether or not their parents take up the option of a personal budget The pilots will look at how we can best ensure effective commissioning and high quality services in the new system.

Special Educational Needs

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what provision he expects non-maintained special schools to make for children with special educational needs or disabilities; and if he will make a statement.

Sarah Teather: Non-maintained special schools (NMSS) provide an important contribution to the range of provision available for pupils with special educational needs (SEN), especially for those pupils with the most complex and severe needs. The majority of pupils in NMSS are placed by local authorities, who are responsible for an individual pupil's statement of SEN. It is for the local authority to ensure that the provision made by the school continues to be appropriate to meet the needs of an individual pupil as set out in their statement.

Teachers: Merseyside

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many unfilled vacancies there are for school teachers in Merseyside.

Nick Gibb: Latest figures from the November 2010 School Workforce Census show there were six unfilled teacher vacancies in the former Merseyside metropolitan district area in November 2010.
	A vacancy is defined as an advertised post for a full-time permanent appointment, or an appointment of at least a one term's duration, and includes posts being filled by a teacher with a contract of less than one term.

Teachers: Training

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on the proposals in his Department's Schools White Paper to trial and evaluate assessments of aptitude, personality and resilience as part of the candidate selection process for teacher training.

Nick Gibb: We have regular discussions with representatives from within the teacher training sector to discuss a range of aspects of teacher training policy. We are currently considering the detail of the implementation of our teacher training reforms set out in the White Paper, including the proposals on assessments of aptitude, personality and resilience. We intend to publish shortly for discussion an initial teacher training strategy document with further detail.

Teenage Pregnancy

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) of 17 March 2011, Official Report, column 614W, on the teenage pregnancy scheme: finance, at what point after conception the term pregnancy applies in respect of the scheme.

Sarah Teather: holding answer 13 May 2011
	Teenage pregnancy is monitored using conception statistics published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). All conceptions to under-18s that result in either one or more live or still births, or a legal abortion under the Abortion Act 1967, are included in the under-18 conception statistics.
	Conception statistics are produced to high professional standards and released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. Conception statistics are compiled by ONS by combining information from birth registrations processed by ONS and abortion notifications from the Department of Health.

West London Free School

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects to publish the funding agreement for the West London Free School.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 13 May 2011
	The funding agreement for the West London Free School will be published around the time that the school opens.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the information held by his Department to be used to calculate compensation to be paid to Equitable Life policyholders; and what method is to be used to calculate such compensation.

Mark Hoban: The data that HM Treasury’s actuaries have used to calculate payments have come from Equitable Life’s policyholder data. The methodology for calculating payments can be found in Annex A to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme design document that was laid before Parliament on 16 May 2011.

Equitable Life Assurance Society: Compensation

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the implications for the income tax liabilities of Equitable Life policyholders of the receipt of compensation from the public purse in relation to such policies.

Mark Hoban: The Chancellor announced at the spending review on 20 October 2010 that authorised payments made through the Equitable Life Payment Scheme will not affect recipients’ UK income tax liabilities.

Financial Services: Qualifications

Jason McCartney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what the pass rate for diploma examinations sat by independent financial advisers has been since their introduction;
	(2)  what the cost of sitting diploma examinations is for independent financial advisers;
	(3)  how many independent financial advisers have sat the new diploma course examinations since their introduction.

Mark Hoban: The Financial Services Authority's (FSA) professionalism requirements, as part of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), require all retail investment advisers to meet a minimum qualification standard.
	The FSA's website provides information on the different types of qualifications which meet the required level:
	http://www.fsa.gov.uk/smallfirms/your_firm_type/financial/rdr/rdr.shtml
	A range of providers offer these qualifications.
	Pass rates for such examinations are commercially sensitive to qualification providers and, as such, are not publicly available. Out of the number of students sitting such examinations, the number of those that are independent financial advisers is not tracked by qualification providers. However, research carried out by NMG for the FSA in 2010 showed that over 48% of ail investment advisers had already attained an appropriate qualification level. While the cost of examinations varies between providers, the NMG research stated that the median cost of attaining an appropriate qualification level per adviser would be £749.

Palestinians: Agricultural Products

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when HM Revenue and Customs plans to implement the new arrangements under the EU-Palestine trade agreement to give duty-free access to imports of agricultural produce from the West Bank and Gaza.

David Gauke: Procedures in the European Union and Palestine for the conclusion of the Agreement are still ongoing. However, when the date of entry into force of the Agreement is known HMRC will issue a Customs information Paper which will provide UK importers with information about the new improved preferential rates of customs duty for Palestinian products.

Taxation: Underpayments

Jason McCartney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  how many cases involving suspected tax underpayment by individuals which were successfully appealed were due to pension payments being incorrectly overstated in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11;
	(2)  how many cases involving suspected tax underpayment by individuals were successfully appealed in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11.

David Gauke: When an individual is issued with notice of an underpayment this is not an assessment of tax and therefore does not create a legal debt. These notices, known as P800s, simply tell customers what HMRC has calculated as the customer's correct tax position, using the information it holds.
	Appeals can only be made when a formal assessment of tax has been made and, on that basis, no appeals have been made. Individuals who think the calculation is incorrect in any way should contact HMRC in the first instance.

Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will bring forward proposals to ratify the Cape Town convention.

Edward Davey: The UK is committed to its ratification, and issued a Call for Evidence last year July seeking stakeholder views. Following the Call for Evidence, officials held several meetings with industry stakeholders to discuss the benefits of UK ratification. A Government Response to the Call for Evidence will be released in the near future.

Departmental Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department and its predecessor paid in (a) damages, (b) claimant costs and (c) defendant costs in respect of all civil claims brought against his Department in which the claimant was successful or the Department settled in each of the last three years.

Edward Davey: The Department and its predecessor paid the following damages, claimant costs and defendant costs in respect of civil claims brought against the Department in which the claimant was successful or the Department settled:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Nature of payment Financial year 
			  2010-11 2009-10 2008-09 2007-08 
			 Damages 0 1,000 0 4,500 
			 Claimant costs 0 5,297 0 4,500 
			 Defendant costs 0 3,052 0 11,258 
			 Total sum paid out 0 9,349 0 11,258 
		
	
	The 2007 case was for the Department for Trade and Industry and the 2009 case was for UK Trade and Investment within the Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, there have been no civil claims brought against the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

Higher Education: Scholarships

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to support university outreach work to wider participation under the National Scholarship programme; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Government have been very clear about the importance of widening participation and improving fair access in higher education. We are establishing a new framework, with increased responsibility on universities to widen participation; and greater Government investment in improving attainment and access for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Higher education institutions (HEIs) will deliver a range of outreach activities as part of their access agreements, agreed with the Office for Fair Access, and their widening participation strategic assessments, agreed with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
	Broad details of the National Scholarship programme were announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 10 February and details were placed in the House Libraries.
	The programme is designed to help people of all ages whose family income is no greater than £25,000 per annum. HEIs will set their own criteria for determining entitlement to an award from amongst this broad group of people. Institutions will offer a range of support from a menu which includes tuition fee waivers or discounts, subsidised accommodation and other institutional support, and a cash bursary—capped at £1,000. Each eligible full-time student will get a benefit of at least £3,000. All institutions that intend to charge more than the basic rate for tuition from 2012 are required to participate in the programme.
	The Government are investing £50 million in the programme in 2012-13, which will rise to £100 million in 2013-14 and £150 million in 2014-15. From 2014-15, with match funding from institutions, we expect that the programme will be supporting up to 100,000 students annually. The programme funding cannot be used by the institution to support outreach activities.

Research: Finance

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what monitoring his Department undertakes of the level of investment in (a) research and development and (b) new technologies by the (i) business sector and (ii) regions and nations of the UK.

David Willetts: The Office of National Statistics (ONS) collects figures on Business Expenditure on Research and Development (BERD) within the UK. The most recent data, published in December 2010, showed £15.6 billion was spent in 2009 on research and development (R&D) performed within UK businesses. Total R&D expenditure in 2009 represented 1.1% of GDP, in line with recent years. The regional breakdown for business R&D in 2009 is as follows:
	
		
			 BERD  ,   2009 
			  £ million 
			 UK 15,624 
			 England 14,361 
			 North east 313 
			 North west 2,050 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 452 
			 East midlands 984 
			 West midlands 873 
			 East of England 3,898 
			 London 926 
			 South east 3,598 
			 South west 1,267 
			 Wales 321 
			 Scotland 644 
			 Northern Ireland 297 
		
	
	The ONS, on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, also collects data on innovation and investment in new technologies through the UK Innovation Survey.
	The latest figures showed 58% of UK businesses engaged in some innovation activity during the three year period 2006 to 2008 by either developing a new product and/or process or investing in a future innovation.